Bullying, its impact and how to handle it Part-I

What is Bullying?

Bullying can be very harmful in term’s of a person’s mental health. Teasing a kid once in a while does not mean bullying. Bullying is done repeatedly and it causes a lot of discomfort to the person being attacked.

Pain felt by a person varies. We cannot define a standard or use a yardstick to measure its severity. Every individual has a different personality and views the world from his/her lens. As parents we need to provide a safe and healthy environment at home where a child is loved, nurtured and where he can bring his problems to the table.

Same goes for schools. If a school is a safe zone for a child, he will feel good about himself and feel comfortable with friends and teachers. Now this is picture perfect. Let’s suppose a child is having some problems at home. He is not happy for some reason and comes to school feeling sad and maybe angry.

If kids bully him at school, this will add to his frustration and therefore he will end up in a fight or he will try to avoid school.

The Most Crucial Tool for Parents

At the end of the day, the child is at a loss. For parents the most important thing, that I repeatedly emphasize, is Communication. Never stop communicating with your child.

The internet, gaming and friends have already filled up his/her life. You have to make sure you have room for your intervention. Before its too late and he/she starts sharing important things with friends or even strangers over the internet.

As teachers, we need to analyze the child in terms of academic and moral education. At the same time their mental and physical health is also important to us. A teacher treats her students like her children and therefore has a motherly nature. This strength helps her to understand the psychology of her students.

Let’s Work Together!

If parents and teachers work together towards the well-being of our children, we can make some great changes in society. For example, kids today are very thankless. If we encourage charity work at home and in schools, kids will definitely benefit in terms of their mental health. Here are a few tips:

• Giving to less privileged ones always makes one feel good about themselves. If we teach this to our children at a young age, it will really shape them into better people.
• Keep them attached to nature via nature walks, hiking, planting, feeding birds etc.
• Encourage your children to talk to grandparents. If they are not living with you, make sure they visit them.
• Let them know how you are doing. Kids should know in simple words how hard you work for them. Do not give details but let them see how much effort you put into getting them educated, making their meals, getting them whatever they want etc.
• Pray together, eat together, watch their TV shows and keep in touch with them on the internet. If your child is using Instagram, try to become their friends on the platform so that you know what their interests are.

Remember, knowing what your child is going through is very important. Today we are all absorbed in work, social media and much more. But if we don’t have time for our children today, they won’t be there for us when we would need someone to talk to!

In our next blog we will discuss the types of bullying and talk about cyber bullying in specific. Please follow the link for the next part.