Christian Counseling for Children

Bullying is a serious and significant problem that affects our children and so bullying prevention is a topic parents should understand. It is a form of violence that can have a lasting negative effect on the health of the person bullied, and the bully. In essence, bullying is when the more powerful party repeatedly acts in a way that hurts and distresses the person targeted. Harm can be inflicted on the victim in a wide variety of ways, some examples include: physically, through hitting, shoving, and tripping; psychologically, through teasing and name-calling, as well as social harm through spreading rumors or excluding someone from the group. Damage to the victim's property is also understood to be bullying. Unfortunately, bullying is not limited to physical interactions but can be done through any means of communication including social media. This is known as cyberbullying or electronic bullying. Bullying is a widespread problem. The repeated nature of victimization and the significant adverse effects of bullying on all parties involved makes the fact that bullying is fairly common all the more tragic. It is not simply the victim and perpetrator who are negatively impacted but the bystanders too. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that 25% of high school students admitted to being bullied while at school while more than 15% of high school students said they were bullied electronically. Another way to understand this is to say that of your child and their four friends, one has been bullied while at school. As bullying is dependent on a power imbalance, logically, some youths are bullied more than others. It happens across genders and cultures, throughout childhood and adolescence. Consequences. The effects of bullying range from physical injury to social and emotional distress, it can create an environment for self-harm and [...]