An unwanted or aggressive behaviour that becomes a cause of power imbalance in a society is known as bullying. This kind of behaviour has the potential to repeat over time. The children who are bullied and the children who are bullying to others may face some long lasting and serious problems. There are various types of bullying like verbal bullying, social bullying and physical bullying etc. It is observed that mostly bullying occurs before or after school hours. In class, there are fewer chances of bullying. Some essential tips top stop bullying are explained below;
- Teach kindness and empathy
When a child can get approach to an idea or a problem from multiple angles, he will never try to bully others. It is possible only if you involve a child in social-emotional learning activities from an early age. The teachers can provide some essential tips to the students in order to understand their identity. The teachers should try to listen to the problems of two children and they should get an idea of how to create understanding between them.
- Create opportunities for the connection
If you are fostering a sense of community among the students, you can easily lower down the bullying incidents. Moreover, it is also possible for you to facilitate healing for those students who are affected by bullying. According to several studies, if the students don’t stand out against bullying, it means that they are giving rise to the bullying incidents. On the other hand, if the students take a stand against the bullies, they can reduce almost 50% of bullying incidents in the future.
- Identify ‘Gateway behaviours’
The beginning patterns of bullying are the small behaviours of the persons. Sometimes, there is a possibility that these small behaviours are missed by the teachers. These behaviours are called ‘gateway behaviours’. If the teachers are able to identify these gateway behaviours, they can easily prevent these behaviours from flourishing up. In these gateway behaviours, there come eye rolling, back turning and name calling etc.
- Empower your kids
There are some children who are not enough empowered that they can stop a bully or they can share their problems with their parents and teachers. The parents should provide enough power to their parents that they should deal with a bully like walking away and talking with an adult. Moreover, you should also provide enough power to your children that they should report the bullying if they are a witness to a bullying event.
- Instil healthy habits
The parents should also try to instil the anti-bullying mindset in their parents. While instilling an anti-bullying mindset in your parents, you should teach to your children that they should not hit, shove or tease other children. They should have enough idea that if they are hurting other children by spreading rumours or by making hurtful jokes, it means that they bullying the other children. The parents should also teach to their children that to tease anyone on any online social media site is also a form of bullying.
The school should also prepare such policies that can stop bullying in schools.