Child bullying is a serious issue that has existed before and might still be experienced in the future. According to Macintyre (2012), bullying is a type of intimidation towards another individual who is perceived to be weaker. Most of the time, it is a way of through which someone gets something from another by force or coercion. Bullying is also a way for some individuals to establish their superiority over another individual. This topic is important because children need to grow in an environment that caters for their needs best. It is also important that people who spend a significant amount of time with children such as parents and teachers understand bullying so that they can guide the affected children and also look for the best solutions to address the problem.
Bullying marks one of the most unfortunate experiences of many childhoods. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) reports that approximately half of all children will go through bullying at one point, whether they are in primary or secondary schools. AACAP further points out that on a lower level, 10 percent of children are bullied on a regular basis (Bullying Statistics, 2015). Although child bullying can happen anywhere, it is mostly experienced in schools. Bullying can be done by both adults and other children. Russell and Horn (2016) say that bullying teaches children to develop certain undesirable views that can have long-lasting effects in life. Additionally, children who are bullied can develop stunted social and emotional growth, on top of finding difficulties in their schoolwork. Some children can also have suicidal thoughts, as well as, serious depression.
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Child bullying takes different forms. While many people think that bullying only involves physical assault, there are also emotional and verbal types of bullying as well. The evolution of technology has even made the issue to be dynamic. Children can nowadays be bullied online through different sites such as Facebook, Twitter, chatrooms, and email, among others. It is also possible for children to be bullied on a cell phone through text messages. According to Zins, Elias and Maher (2007), there is a difference between girls and boys with regard to the different ways they do the bullying. Most boys prefer use of physical intimidation to bully their peers. Boys also like to feel being in charge or in control of a situation. On the contrary, girls may resolve to use unaggressive methods such as verbal abuse. Most girls are not interested in looking superior but may only bully their victims to belittle them.
It is vital for parents to understand some of the ways that may show that their children are being bullied. Some parents may be concerned that their children are being bullied but may not understand how to find out conclusively. Perhaps one of the most popular signs that may indicate that a child is being bullied is when he or she shows fear when he or she is supposed to go to school. Some children may suggest to their parents that they be transferred to another school, giving different reasons (Macintyre, 2012). Even when a child may decide to go, he or she may not reach to school instead he or she may hide or go to other places. Secondly, the school performance of the child may deteriorate suddenly. A parent or guardian needs to investigate the problem and if bullying is one of the causes, he or she needs to address it. Another prominent sign of bullying is when a child becomes withdrawn or shows signs of depression. Lastly, some physical signs such as scrapes, bruises, and other marks may suggest that a child has been physically assaulted.
Advocacy Efforts
Despite bullying being such a weighty matter, only a few parties are trying to address it. Most of the measures being taken are individual efforts. Most of the efforts involve raising awareness of bullying instead of seeking solutions. The efforts are directed towards enlightening both parents, school administrators, and teachers that bullying exists and should not be ignored. Well, creating awareness is important because many school administrators deny the existence of any forms of bullying in their schools. Many school heads rely on reports from students to establish whether there is bullying. What most school heads do not know is that most victims of bullying fear the repercussions once the bullies realize that they have been reported. Therefore, most victims would rather not report to their teachers or school heads. Some children may find it necessary to tell their parents about their experiences. Although parents may visit the school to report the matter, the administration may deny it for lack of information.
Most organizations and individuals seem to address parents on the steps they ought to take to address the issue of bullying should they find out that their children are victims. For instance, a website such as “Hull Daily MAIL” gives valuable information on what parents need to do (Shetgiri, Espelage & Carroll 2015). First, the parents are required to talk to the school heads when they notice or their child report of bullying. After reporting, the parents also need to ask the school to provide them with the school anti-bullying policy. Schools are always required to draft policies on the measures they have taken to prevent all types of bullying. If the complaints of a parent are not addressed even after raising the issue with the school, he or she can take legal action. Parents can decide to either file a civil or criminal case depending on the type of harm suffered by the child.
One of the setbacks of the US legal system is that it does not have clear guidelines on what needs to be done should a child be bullied. There is a legal challenge because most of the bullies in schools are underage and cannot face stern legal action like adults. In the event that adults bully young children, and children report them to the relevant authorities, child advocates help the children to seek justice. In most cases, the adults are penalized by either being imprisoned or paying for the damages caused (Milburn-Curtis, 2017). As already mentioned, most of the bullies are left scot-free and because of the partial legal immunity they may take advantage of the situation to continue bullying their peers. It is only in particular instances when underage children are taken to correctional facilities and most of this instances, they would have caused grievous harm to their victims. However, it is still illogical for children below the age of ten years to be subjected to legal action because critics argue that most of such children do not understand the implication of their actions.
The efforts that have been directed towards curbing bullying have impacted different people in different ways. Since the efforts have mostly been directed towards parents, most parents are aware of child bullying and can even suspect if they children are being bullied. On the contrary, not much is being done by schools because many organizations and individuals are unconcerned. People only raise concerns when severe bullying happens and the media gives it a lot of limelight. The lack of clear legal guidelines also make it difficult to address the issue. According to me, I would like to see more efforts being directed towards addressing the issue at school. Additionally, the government needs to assess the issue to hold the various schools responsible for any cases of bullying that may arise.
My Advocacy Project
My advocacy measure will involve the parents, the school administration, and the teachers. All the measures seek to deal with both the physical and emotional abuse. Because the children spend a lot of time in school, Milburn-Curtis (2017) outlines various measures that both the school administrators and teachers can take to address the problem of bullying. The first measure is to assess bullying at their respective schools. Adults are not usually good at predicting the forms and the extent of bullying among children. It is important that children are asked about their experiences at school. The assessment need not to put the victims in situations where the bullies may retaliate. According to Shetgiri, Espelage and Carroll (2015), one of the best ways to carry out the assessment is to have students who can write to complete an anonymous questionnaire on their experiences of being bullied, bullying or observing any forms of bullying. Although teachers may not be aware of bullying at school, it is also important to involve them because some students confide in some teachers. Teachers need to be motivated by the head teachers or principals to observe the student relationships. It is vital for the school heads to compare the student and adult perceptions about bullying.
Secondly, school administrators need to track bullying incidents at their schools. That means that teachers and the school administrators collaborate to document and investigate suspected, as well as, confirmed incidents of bullying. Such a measure will help to protect and support the victims and make the bullies to be held accountable for their actions. To be able to track all bullying incidences, school administrators need to involve different people in the school. Some of the most effective people that can be used to track the bullies without noticing are the drivers, gardeners and other non-academic staff members. Students can also be allowed to report to the non-academic staff members because a significant number of them may not be free with the teachers. It ought to be known that no single reporting program is effective for all schools. Even when the education stakeholders may suggest measures to curb bullying, some of them may be ineffective because of different constraints in different schools.
Schools need not to be contented with the measures they have put in place. Students tend to find different ways of bullying their peers. The bullying prevention program need to be evaluated from time to time to have better outcomes. That means that school administrators need to conduct research on better ways of dealing with the issue. One of the best ways is visiting other schools to learn about the strategies they use. One of the most difficult forms of bullying for schools and parents to solve is cyber bullying. It is said that people currently are living in the digital age, and as a result, everybody, including children have access to different communication devices. Children may use the devices to intimidate their peers. It is even more complex considering that different social media sites do not have a way of verifying whether their users are underage or not. In fact, seemingly social media sites do not bar children from opening social media accounts. The government needs to engage internet providers to find a way of addressing the issue of internet misuse by children or underage individuals in general. But the most effective measure is for both the school administrators and the parents to teach their children on the values of co-existence and tolerance for each other. Different government and non-government bodies may propose measures to address the issue but without the children being given a better moral direction, they will explore loop holes and find ways of intimidating their peers.
Conclusion
From the child advocacy course, it important that a child grows in an environment that addresses his or her interests best. Protection of a child’s interests involves understanding the experiences that a child goes through in different places. Bullying is one of the problems that almost every child encounters while growing up. Most of the bullies aim to instill fear in their peers to make themselves to look superior or coerce their victims to yield to their demands. It is even unfortunate that most bullying takes place in schools, places where parents are often convinced that they will help mold their children to develop positive attributes. Some parents are usually shocked about the development of their children when they are subjected to bullying.
Most of the time, children who are bullied especially in school lose interest in their studies and consequently their performance deteriorates. Children who may start school on a high note may suddenly develop negative thought. It becomes even worse when children become emotionally disturbed. Some of them may resolve to undesirable habits such as taking drugs in an attempt to forget about their experiences or to find peace of mind. Additionally, some children may decide to attempt suicide because of too much depression. Seemingly, most of the efforts are directed towards enlightening the parents on the signs that show that their children are being bullied. In the process, schools are left out despite children spending a significant part of their time in schools. Reducing bullying both at school and at home requires the efforts of almost everyone. The government needs to provide a legal direction while the school administrators and parents need to teach children how to live and relate well with one another.
References
Bullying Statistics . (2015). Child Bullying. Bullying Statistics . Retrieved 9 April 2018, from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/child-bullying.html
Macintyre, C. (2012). Bullying and Young Children: Understanding the issues and tackling the problem . Routledge.
Milburn-Curtis, C. (2017). How to Protect Your Child from Bullies . Lulu. com.
Russell, S. T., & Horn, S. S. (Eds.). (2016). Sexual orientation, gender identity, and schooling: The nexus of research, practice, and policy . Oxford University Press.
Shetgiri, R., Espelage, D. L., & Carroll, L. (2015). Practical strategies for clinical management of bullying . New York: Springer.
Zins, J. E., Elias, M. J., & Maher, C. A. (2007). Bullying, victimization, and peer harassment: A handbook of prevention and intervention . Psychology Press.
