Bullying is a reality in school settings and has to be dealt with. The incidence of bullying increases in the teenage stages.

Types of Bullying

Verbal bullying includes making threats, name-calling, saying mean things.

Psychological bullying is excluded from play, spreading rumors, making teenagers a topic of ridicule.

Physical bullying is intimidating through actual hitting, pushing, taking a teenager’s possessions.

Direct bullying like hitting, kicking, shoving, spitting, taunting, teasing, racial slurs, verbal harassment, threatening, and making obscene gestures.

Indirect bullyings like getting another person to bully someone for you, spreading rumors, deliberately excluding someone from a group or activity and Cyber-bullying

Signs of Bullying

• Increased passivity or withdrawal
• Frequent crying  or over-sensitive nature
• Recurrent complaints of physical symptoms such as stomach- or headaches with no apparent cause or unexplained bruises
• A sudden drop in grades, or other learning problems
• Not wanting to go to school  or to go outside and play
• Sudden change in the way the teenager talks — calling herself a loser, or a former friend a jerk
• Most studies find that boys bully more than do girls
• Boys report being bullied by boys; girls report being bullied by boys and girls
• Boys are more likely than girls to be physically bullied by their peers
• Girls are more likely to be bullied through rumor-spreading, sexual comments, social exclusion

Teenagers don’t want to come to the parents and tell them about the bullying because they believe that if they say or do something about it, the bullying might get worse.  Sometimes they are right in their fears, but if the parent handles the complaint right, more often than not, the bullying will stop.

What Can You Do as a Parent?

• Realize that bullying is  fact of life in many schools
• Remain involved to know if your teen is a victim or a bully
• Bully-proof your child by keeping teenagers self-esteem high
• Keep talking to them about school and their experiences.
• Teach them to stand for their rights and always tell and share experiences of bullying even when they witness it happening to someone else.
• Approach the school and teachers if a child’s complaints are not heard, ask the school to be answerable.

Original article: https://awesomepoweroflove.com/2012/10/15/are-you-keeping-an-eye-your-child-is-being-bullied-or-is-bullying-at-school/