Bullying In School

Bullying in school? Its all about power and control! To effectively deal with bullying at school behavior, it is very important to first understand what bullying is really all about. Only when we can take the power away from the tormentor and control the situation are we able to solve this problem.

Bullying Facts

So what does the term "bullying" really mean to you? Well if you decided to search the Internet for a definition of bullying you would probably find hundreds, if not thousands of definitions for this single word. This illustrates how popular this term has recently become. For example:

"Bullying is characterized by acts of intentional harm, repeated over-time, in a relationship where an inbalance of power exists. It includes physcial actions [punching, kicking, biting], verbal actions [threats, name calling, insults, racial or sexual comments], and social exclusion [spreading rumors, ignoring, gossiping, excluding]." [Pepler&Craig, 2000; Ma, Stewin & Mah, 2001]

"Bullying is a form of aggression in which a person repeatedly harasses another person physically and/or psychologically."
Florida Safe and Drug-Free Schools. "SDFS NOTES". SUMMER 1997. VOLUME 1, ISSUE #3. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ...
www.unf.edu/dept/fie/sdfs/notes/bullying.pdf >

"Bullying is a conscious, willful, deliberate, hostile and repeated behavior by one or more people, which is intended to harm others."
www.Bullying.Org. "What is Bullying?" [Online] 17 February 2009. www.bullying.org>

"Bullying is a conscious, willful, and deliberate hostile activity intended to harm, induce fear through the threat of further aggression, and create terror."
Barbara Coloroso, the bully, the bullied, and the bystander (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2006), p. 13.

The four defintions of bullying cited above barely scratch the surface, however they do give us a broader understanding of how some others, namely researchers and government agencies see this problem.

As a parent of four children, two of whom were bullied in school (one severely), and an educator rather than a researcher, I prefer to think of bullying in more simplistic terms.

"Bullying is all about power or to be more precise the misuse of power by one individual or group over another."

Bullying and Empowerment

To effectively deal with any bully or bullying problem, you must learn how to take power and control the situation! This action of giving or taking power is known as empowerment. Often we hear people speak of empowering others in a positive light. That is, to give others more responsibility or to share in decision making. In the case of bullying situations such as school bullying and workplace bullying, you are actually taking the power or control of the situation away from the bullies.

The old saying knowledge is power has been around for decades and has a special meaning when dealing with bullies and bullying. You must deal with these types of situations from a position of strength, not weakness, and this can only come about by learning and understanding who and what you are dealing with.

Please reread the previous boldfaced statement! If you understand this basic fact, you are well on your way to handling most any bullying situation. The first key in dealing with bullying is learning to recognize the signs of bullying in school.