Reflection

          Thinking back on all the blogs and research, I’ve found that bullying has changed a lot from when I was in school. I also found that children are being affected more and or emotionally scarred, sometimes to the point of killing themselves. It’s dusted of some emotions I’ve had about the subject and sometimes while writing I would feel an anger rising as I researched about the subject.

            I have to say I do like this way of writing a research paper than the traditional way of writing. It was more relaxed and less stressful compared to a regular paper. It was more like you were having a discussion with someone online instead of writing a paper.

            Working on this style of writing helped me with understanding the importance of an image to help support the subject I was writing on. Normally with the normal writing you wouldn’t have images to go along with your paper. Also with this style each blog was focused on the one part of the main topic, which helped with getting more details into the paper. I enjoyed this new interesting way of writing.

           

Is Bullying Connected to Suicides?

                   

In this day in age is school bullying connecting to the rise in suicides? Out of a lot of articles I’ve read, a lot talk about how being bullied wasn’t the primary factor in youth suicides. It is present that bullying is still noted as a factor in suicides. There are a lot studies on the issue of bullying being associated with suicides. In some studies it shows that the child being bullied had depression issues and that being bullied was a small factor in the suicide or suicide attempted. While in the other studies it’s shown that being bullied was the primary factor in the suicide or suicide attempt. In the one study that I looked into had results with the bullied victim showing high suicidal thoughts or behaviors (Klomek, 2010). It was also pointed out in the studies that this was true for grades elementary on up through high school. The result was that school bullying is a “significant risk factors” for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young children and teens, and was deemed “independent of other suicide risk factors, such as depression” (Klomek, 2010).

            If bullying isn’t a primary factor for youth suicides, then why has there been a lot of bully associated suicides and attempted suicides reported in the media (Klomek, 2010)? Millions of youth are affected yearly by suicidal behaviors. Most of which are associated with bullying or depression. The studies in the few articles I read have end results that show that bullying is a big factor in youth suicides. Every time I hear of a youth suicide, bullying was listed as a possibly reason of the action.

Do we as grown-ups really know what’s going on with kids now a day? When I was bullied in school I do remember being depressed, but I never recalled wanting to commit suicide. But as the world changes so do the ways of bullying. Cyber bullying in worse cases have led to youth suicides being that the bully can harass a child 24hours a day 7 days a week if they want to (Klomek, 2010).

Even if most articles say that bullying isn’t a primary factor in youth suicides it still has a long term effect on a child that can follow them into adulthood, in which could later lead to suicide down the road. From all the information and what I’ve seen on the news, I do believe that bullying is a big factor in youth suicides even if it’s not the primary one. Not to mention with the yearly increase of both bullying and youth suicide, it’s just hard not to see the connection.  

Klomek, A. (2010). The Association of suicide and bullying in childhood to young adulthood: A review of cross-sectional and longitudinal research findings. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Retrieved April 21, 2011, from the Academic Search Complete Database.

Can You Pick Out a Bully?

       

          Can you pick out a bully from the other children? Sometimes it can be hard to figure out who is who. Not always is the bully aggressive in a noticeable way that’s easy to spot. This poses a problem when trying to fix the bullying problem in schools. It’s very important to know the signs that can point out a bully from the rest.

What is considered signs of bullying? The National School Safety Center came up with a list of what they consider bullying tactics. The following is that list: poking, punching, strangling, suffocating, pinching, shoving, hitting, biting, spitting, hair pulling, finger bending, ganging up and cornering, stabbing, excessive tickling, burning, poisoning, theft and shooting (Bullying, 2009). So, now we have an official list to help with picking out the bully.

In most cases boy bullies will take a direct, physical way of bullying, while girl bullies most likely will take an indirect way of bullying (Bullying, 2009). But that’s not always the case. Also with the times changing you can’t rely on gender to help you recognize a bullying child. In some cases a child with a personality disorder can be a bully because of the disorder not allowing them to understand normal social emotions (Dealing with Bullying, n.d.). What bullies do share in characteristics is the enjoyment in dominating others while making the focus on them; they most likely have poor social skills and/or poor social judgments (Dealing with Bullying, n.d.).

When I was picked on in school the girls would push my around and threaten to beat me up. They also were mostly very verbally abusive. So the gender characteristic isn’t always true. The guys that would pick on me were not physical, but verbally abusive as well. But sometimes words hurt more than being hit.

            So what we conclude is that bullies can either be direct and aggressive or indirect and non-aggressive; and gender of the bully is no longer a way to help with characterizing a bully. Bullies can have personality disorders that could cause them to be bullies. They do share the fact they like to dominate others and put the focus on themselves.

Bullying. (2009, June). Facts on File News Services.  Retrieved March 25, 2011, from the Issues & Controversies Database.

Dealing with Bullying. (n.d.). Teens Health: Kids Health.Org. Retrieved March 27, 2011, from http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/bullies.html.

How does Teaching Help to Prevent Bullying?

Educating children on how to handle their bully is one of the biggest help for a child. Parents need to step in and help teach the child that bullying is an unacceptable behavior and be there to give their child support. If one method doesn’t work try another.

Fighting violence with violence is not the answer. Teaching your child to fight back physically is the wrong step, like the saying goes “Two wrongs don’t make a right”. Most times the child that is being victimized is actually weaker and smaller than the bully, so the fear of losing may be real ( Marano, 2010). In some case this method can work, but not in all especially in my case.

There are different tactics to use when dealing with a bully. Parents just need to become more proactive and help their child find one that works. Sitting down and coming up with clever comebacks to use when they are being verbally abused by the bully ( Marano, 2010). It’s nothing fighting words with words, plus giving the opening to walking away from the bully while they’re thinking of a comeback.

Find a friend. Having a friend on the playground with the child is the most effective method ( Marano, 2010). This strategy implies the safety in numbers, because what bully is going to want to take on a group of kids? Plus having friends that are supportive helps the child gain self-esteem and confidence.

In high school bullying stopped for me because I developed more friendships in high school than I had in elementary or middle school. Being that I was picked on a lot in school I don’t take little to seeing fellow peers being picked on, especially if it’s friends or loved ones. One instance in high school I can remember was I observed four girls pushing around one, lone girl and calling her names. That already was unfair four against one. One of my friends and I stepped in and told them to back off. I offered to walk her to the principal’s office or even to her next class. I feel like I just can’t stand by and watch that after all I’ve been through. I just wish someone had been there to stand up for me.

Marano, H., (2010, March 30) Top Strategies for Handling a Bully. Psychology Today.com. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from the World Wide Web:  

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/201003/top-strategies-handling-bully.

Cyber Bullying

            With technology comes easier ways to bully without even being near to your victim. Cyber Bullying is what it’s known as and is just as bad if not worse than your normal bullying. The definition of Cyber Bullying is “an individual or a group will fully using information and communication involving electronic technologies to facilitate deliberate and repeated harassment or threat to another individual or group by sending or posting cruel text and/or graphics using technological means.” ( Dilmaç, B., & Aydoğan, D., 2010)

 Computers were not a big thing when I was coming through schools, but they are a big part of everyone’s daily life now. Home was the escape I had to get away from the bullying, but now a child isn’t even safe at home from it. Because of this new form of bulling, children that are being affected become depressed, nervous, and upset; in which affects their relationships with family and friends. ( Dilmaç, B., & Aydoğan, D., 2010)

            Teaching children about being aware of cyber bulling and that they do not have to put up with it. It’s very important to let a child know it’s not their fault for being bullied. Being told just “don’t pay attention to the bully” isn’t enough. The child should be taught how to deal with the bullying and about cyber safety. Schools need to make time to educate children more on bullying, cyber bullying, and what they should do if they are a victim of it.

Dilmaç, B., & Aydoğan, D. (2010). Values as a Predictor of Cyber-bullying Among Secondary School Students. International Journal of Social Sciences, 5(3), 185-188. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Factors of Bullying

When I was coming through school bullying was a usual thing in my life and a very unpleasant experience. I was picked on throughout my elementary years to my first year in High school. It seemed like they would start picking on me for no reason, maybe out of bored who knows. No matter how nice I was to them they would always have something mean to say to me or start picking apart how I looked and dressed. Sometimes they would push me around or slap me in the back of the head. Nothing was ever really done about it. I would say something to the teacher and the group of kids that picked on me would lie. It was my word against theirs. It was an experience that no child should have to go through.

It is interesting to note that bullies can be created by having bad role models in their lives that give them an unhealthy example of interacting with others. Children pay close attention to how adults around them act, especially if the adult is very close to them. With this said lack of knowledge and bad environment, which are your bad role models, help make bullies (Healy, 2010). So maybe the schools are not the only factors in the bullying problem. But if that’s the case the school system needs to step it up a notch to help promote a healthy environment and role models.  

Bullying is becoming a serious and common problem in schools with the growing suicides in younger children. In Psychology Today states that “Bullying is a “warning sign” that a school system is sick” (Healy, 2010). I have to say I’ve never thought about the school being the problem, but the more I think about it, that could possibly be a factor in the issue. But the school system is not the only factors. The way the child is being raised and the environment they are in are other contributors to the problem. 

Healy M., (2010, October 19) School bullying. Psychologytoday.com. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from the World Wide Web: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creative-development/201010/school-bullying

Bullying in School

When I was going through school I had problems with being picked on. I was picked on until I started High school. Now days the bullying in schools is getting worse each year and the methods of the bullying are changing. Now they have cyber bullying, which makes it easier for bullies to pick on other children. I believe when you get picked on it affects you all throughout your life. I feel like I have a self-esteem problem from all the bullying that happened to me. Bullying is a problem in the school system and it's a problem that needs to be address.  Some people don’t think it’s a problem and that it’ll make kids tough, but that’s wrong. I was verbally and physically picked on. Other kids use to tease me because I was tall and skinny. I was quiet and shy so that also made me a prime target for being bullied. It made school not fun for me and gave me unnecessary stress.