Putting bullying to an end, is it possible?

1. 61

   Denisha Wadeposted 7 years ago

   Putting bullying to an end, is it possible?

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2. 93

   RachaelLeflerposted 7 years ago

   I don't think it will ever end because:
   1) Kids are often mean because they simply don't know any better. For example, a kid might laugh at an overweight person and point at them in a rude way, simply because they haven't been taught how to be nice to people who look "different" to them. This is a learning process that takes time and maturation on their part. You can't expect them to learn sensitivity all at once.
   2) Parents and teachers cannot and should not be overseeing or trying to control everything the kids do socially. Unrestricted, unobserved, unstructured playtime is a critical part of their cognitive and social developments.
   3) It's better to teach kids to be tough and stand up for themselves. When kids are resilient and confident, they get targeted less. That's an important growing experience.
   4) Bullying is a teachable moment. Like I said in #1, a lot of bullying is not based on knowing desire to cause harm or sociopathy, but on kids simply not knowing better. It's good if it can be used to teach kids a lesson about empathy or compassion.
   5) Bullying can often be a "he said vs she said" thing, where two kids both attack each other or fight each other and both blame the other one for the incident.
   So I don't think it's desirable or possible to end bullying forever, BUT what adults can do is try to make each incident a teaching moment to teach kids something important about values, empathy, morals, and how to respect others' differences and resolve conflicts in a more mature way next time.

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3. 61

   Denisha Wadeposted 7 years ago

   You're answer is so true. It's sad that some children aren't taught at home that bullying isn't okay.  Although some are taught but, they still may find that it is okay to bully others. Just to give the other peers a laugh. Maybe, if schools can be a lot more stricter on those bullies it could help in a way.

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