Throughout my observes I have talked to many. I was talking to a social worker that floats around the elementary schools on our district. I asked her how she felt about the bullying that seems to be spreading like wide fires. She told me that was a great expression to use when it comes to bullying. She told me that children are experiencing all different types of bullying and they are not able to handle it at the ages in elementary. She said at any age it is hard to handle but in the early years they tend to become more venerable to the bully's.
She told me one story about a child that she worked with when she lived in Florida who was bullied everyday. He was tormented by so many children and finally he came to her to talk. He was a sweet child that was very timid and quiet. He kept to himself and never bothered anyone. He would ask her why they would pick on him and she would tell him because deep down inside they are not happy with themselves. Then he told her when he went home he would get yelled at by his parents and his siblings. In a nutshell the boy was never given a break and he was ready to give him until she told him that she was important and he was going to be someone someday. She started building his confidence daily and she slowly but surely began to see changes in him. He began to stick up for himself and the children were not use to that. Finally the bullying stopped and he become a little bit more confident day but day.
I was glad to hear this story but it doesn't always end up like that, many children are taking their lives because of this issue. I wonder where the teachers were when this was happening and why it wasn't handled sooner. She told me that you don't see it sometimes and you never really know until they come to you or someone else. I want to make sure that EVERYONE is looking out for this because like this story not all children will get the courage to say something or when they do it might be to late.
I also spoke to the nurse to see what she thought about bullying and she didn't really have much to say about it. She said that she doesn't think that the children should get away with bullying and that they need to make the consequences more severe so the children are afraid to bully. She did say that a lot of children are on anti-depressants now compared to when she started 14 years. ago but she isn't sure why.
I think some of the challenges about bullying is you are not always going to be their when it happens. Another challenging thing would be the consequences of bullying. You are not in control of that and I too feel that the consequences should be so severe that the children are afraid to bully!
Believe it or not teachers are mandated reporters to report to the police any bullying that occurs. It is very difficult to control bullying but many teachers work very diligently to stop ALL bullying. It's hard to stop bullying when parents bully their own children so the children only follow what they see and hear. As a teacher, how can you make the consequences so severe they won't be able to bully again? You have to live within the guidelines of what any school would do if a child breaks the rules. You spoke of challenges however what are some insights you gained from your discussion with the social worker? Did you talk to anyone else? Did you talk to the classroom teacher to see what they do when bullying occurs in the classroom or if they have programs that teach children to be respectful to each other?
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