Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Bullying can take the form of physical contact, words, or more subtle actions.
The bullied individual typically has trouble defending him or herself and does nothing to “cause” the bullying.
What bullying is not...
single episodes of social rejection or dislike
single episode acts of nastiness or spite
random acts of aggression or intimidation
mutual arguments, disagreements or fights
Types of Bullying
Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes:
Teasing
Name-calling
Inappropriate sexual comments
Taunting
Threatening to cause harm
Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes:
Leaving someone out on purpose
Telling other children not to be friends with someone
Spreading rumors about someone
Embarrassing someone in public
Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying includes:
Hitting/kicking/pinching
Spitting
Tripping/pushing
Taking or breaking someone’s things
Making mean or rude hand gestures
To report bullying at ACS, ask your teacher or the school counselor for a report form. If you need help filling it out, ask the school counselor. Return the form to a teacher and it will be processed from there.
If you think you are being bullied, here are some ideas that may help you stop it.
Tell someone, even if you don't think it will help. Just talking about a situation can help put it in perspective. You could talk to a friend; a parent; or a trusted teacher who you know will take what you're saying seriously.
Keep a record of incidents.
Bullies win when you’re upset, so here are some things you can practice:
Act unimpressed: pretend not to notice if you're excluded or if the bullying is verbal, say something like, 'yeah, whatever' or 'Oh, OK'.
Walk away.
Pretend to agree 'yep, that's what I'm like alright' 'Yeah, I've got red hair. Tried dyeing it but decided it was better red than green'...
Look around for other friendship groups in or out of school.
Get involved in clubs or activities at school where you'll be safe.
If you are being cyberbullied, you can:
Block senders.
Keep messages by sending them to someone else. Don't look at them yourself.
Change passwords.
Don't retaliate.
Talk to a friend, parent or teacher about how to deal with the bullies.
If there are threats or calls to harm yourself, report abuse to the police and also the ISP or website.