Today is Friday 11th March, 2011. It seems to be a very special day. In fact, it is a very special date! See what I found when I was reading a very popular American newspaper,
"President Barack Obama told a White House conference on school bullying that he, too, was a victim of childhood taunting.
"I have to say that with big ears and the name that I have, I was not immune. I did not emerge unscathed," Obama said.
The President said that adults have often assumed that bullying was a fairly benign childhood rite of passage but, in truth, the destructive psychological effects of bullying can linger into adulthood.
He said: "Sometimes we overlook the real damage that bullying can do, especially when young people face harassment day after day, week after week."
In the past few years, a number of teenage children in the United States have committed suicide following prolonged bullying. Obama reminded the White House conference that bullying is no longer limited to schools, but may extend to aggressive texting of a child's mobile phone or home computer."
Bullying can occur in any context, including school, workplace, neighbourhoods, etc, and it means "abuse". It is always a negative act which involves intimidation and it consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal and physical.
School bullying refers to peer abuse and it implies systematic persecution and irritating classmates persistently. One student or a group can bully another student or a group of students. It can be quite annoying. School regulations have now implemented laws to prevent bullying. These programs called "anti-bullying campaigns "can be effective. In many educational institutions, these programs usually focus on increasing awareness and supervision, establishing clear rules, and providing support and protection for victims. But, there is another bad practice that can be as harmful as school bullying, and that is Cyber-bullying.
Cyber-bullying occurs when someone bullies through the Internet, mobile phones or other electronic means, including sending mean-spirited text, e-mail, or instant messages; posting inappropriate pictures or messages about others in blogs or on web sites; using someone else's user name to spread rumors or lies about someone. All this implies a hostile behaviour intending to harm others which may cause psycological injury. It affects not only the bullied but also his friends and classmates, as well as his relatives and the whole society.
Anti-bullying programs are designed to teach students cooperation, as well as training peer moderators in intervention and dispute resolution techniques, as a form of peer support. Our attitude can be essential for the solution to the problem itself. We can do our best while dealing with it!
Let's face bullying together!!!