Types Of Bullying And The Impact Of Bullying On Children

By Author: Ginny's Planet
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Bullying has various forms in classrooms and schools and it has an adverse effect on children’s lives. Bullying students can result in long-lasting consequences for its victims including distress, physical harm, and difficulties in academic and social aspects of their lives.

One of the blogs by the Indian Times in 2017 quoted: ”As many as 42% of students of Class 4 to 8 and 36% of Class 9 to 12 said they are subjected to harassment by peers on school campuses, a five-year study conducted at 15 locations across the country has found.”

In this blog, we will delve into the forms of bullying. Examine the detrimental effects they have on children. By comprehending these types of bullying and their repercussions we can strive towards establishing an inclusive environment that caters to the well-being of all children.

What is Bullying?
Bullying can be described as behavior aimed at causing harm or exerting control over another person through verbal insults, physical aggression or damaging relationships. Typically it involves an imbalance of power where the bully asserts dominance over the victim.

One ...
... way to deal with the scenario and teach students not to bully is by teaching them about empathy and how to understand someone’s feelings.

Here are some ways you can teach empathy to your children:

Encourage open communication.
Discuss Emotions and feelings.
Teach about the importance of listening.
Teach about seeing a situation from a different perspective.
Encourage them for an act of kindness.
Might want to Read: A Quick Guide to Teaching Empathy in Classrooms

If you want to learn more about empathy, Ginny’s Planet conducts workshops on helping students to learn empathy. These sessions are for parents, teachers, and students. To know more about this visit https://www.ginnysplanet.com/workshops/

Types of Bullying
1. Physical Bullying: Physical bullying is the act of harming someone using physical force such as slapping, punching, or kicking. When students experience this kind of bullying in schools it can be extremely harmful. This requires necessary intervention from teachers and school authorities.

This type of bullying has a serious and deep impact on children for a lifetime.
Physical bullying is mostly done by senior students and peers in the classroom. In this, senior students use their hierarchy to bully their juniors. Physical bullying leaves a deep impact on students. This could cause siginificant mental health issues for the child. The impact of this can be deep and critical.

This might interest you: Guidelines To Select The Right School For Your Child

How to prevent child being bullied
2. Relational Bullying: Relational bullying, also referred to as social bullying or relational aggression is a type of bullying that primarily revolves around manipulating and damaging a person’s relationships, reputation, or sense of belonging within a group. Relational bullying is characterized by subtle and often hidden actions aimed at causing emotional distress to the target.

Some examples of relational bullying are: spreading false news, gossiping about someone intentionally excluding others from social groups, manipulating friendships, and using social media or technology (cyber bullying) to undermine or harass the victim. The objective is to harm the victims’ standing self-esteem or sense of belonging rather than inflicting physical harm. It can be particularly painful and difficult to address due to its nature.
Ginnys Planet is conducting a Webinar on What is Relational Bullying and understanding the signs of it.

3. Verbal Bullying: Verbal bullying occurs when hurtful words, insults or name-calling are used to belittle or demean the victim. It can happen face to face which often poses challenges for students or through written communication. Teachers must take action against this type of bullying in schools to create a healthy environment in the classroom. Teacher’s advice can help students get out of this type of classroom bullying. School Authorities should make strict rules and punishments against classmates and seniors bullying.

Seniors bullying is a problem as it frequently takes the form of hazing, in institutions, where older students impose humiliating and occasionally harmful initiation ceremonies on their younger peers. This is very hazardous for junior students because this type of event creates a deep impact on younger students. So it is the responsibility of the authorities to create a ‘ragging-free campus’.

4. Psychological or Emotional Bullying: Psychological or emotional bullying is a form of bullying that involves manipulating the victim’s emotions. This can include spreading rumors and excluding others, which can have an impact on students’ well-being if not promptly addressed by teachers and school staff. Emotional bullying could also be a part of relational bullying.

The School authorities/parents should have a strong mechanism for preventiona nd response.

Being a bully, the person should understand the distress of being bullied. Parents’ actions and guidance can prevent children from being bullied.

Here are some ways on how parents or teachers can guide students from being bullied :

1. Encourage open communication. Make a friendly relationship with students/children.
2. Parents and teachers should educate students about anti-bullying practices.
3. Parents and teachers should recognize the signs of bullying like low academic performance, change in behavior, etc.

Must Read: How To Prepare for Your Child’s First Day of School?

5. Cyberbullying: In today’s age cyberbullying has become a concern, for students both inside and outside the classroom. This kind of bullying is performed through platforms like media and texting. This form of harassment involves spreading information and subjecting individuals to relentless online attacks.

cyberbullying impact on children
As adults, it is essential for parents and educators to enlighten students about online conduct.
Did you know: India Has Higher Number of Cyberbullying Kids as Victims & Perpetrators. In a McAfee report titled ‘Cyberbullying in Plain Sight’ mentioned that 85% of surveyed children in India have been victims of cyberbullying, the highest in the world.

Parents and teachers advice and guidance can prevent a child from being a cyber bully. if they are taught how to use social media and basic laws and punishments.

There are many measures taken by the country as well to ensure cyber bullying is reduced. If case you face such an issue or you know that anyone else is going through something similar you can file complaints on cybercrime.gov.in

Impact of bullying on children
Bullying can have a lasting impact, on children causing effects that are important to consider:

Emotional and Psychological Struggles: Bullying often leads to emotional and psychological struggles in children. It can trigger feelings of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and a sense of hopelessness. These dynamic challenges may persist well into adulthood if not properly addressed.

Low educational Performance: Victims often find it difficult to concentrate during studies, they try to skip school to avoid classroom bullying and this also affects their grades in the long term. These consequences could have long-term effects on their education and future opportunities.

Impact on health: Victims can have serious health issues from being bullied. It can manifest in headaches, stomachaches, and other physical symptoms. Long-term stress may also weaken their system making them more susceptible to illnesses.

Social Exclusion: Bullying victims often withdraw from activities and friendships due to fear of rejection or ridicule. This isolation can create a huge impact which will lead to feelings of loneliness. Hinder their ability to form relationships in the future.

Behavior issues: bullying can lead to behavior change. They might become more aggressive or adopt behaviors as a defense mechanism. In some cases, they may resort to behaviors or substance abuse as a way to cope with their distress.

Thoughts of Suicide and Self Harm: The emotional trauma inflicted by bullying can push some children towards having suicidal thoughts or engaging in self-harming behaviors. It is crucial to take any indications of self-harm or suicidal ideation and seek assistance.

Being a bully one may not fully understand the lasting impact their actions can have on the individuals they choose to target.

Conclusion
The involvement of parents and teachers in addressing the issue of bullying is crucial.

Teachers’ involvement and the implementation of school policies play a role in establishing a classroom atmosphere that effectively addresses the issue of classroom bullying.

Similarly, parents have a role in fostering an environment beyond school grounds to help children not be bullied or be a bully. They should actively listen to their children, encourage communication, and keep an eye on their activities.

When parents and teachers work on this cause they can together combat bullying in schools.