14th November, Children’s Day. The day marks the birthday of India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, fondly called Chacha Nehru, who so loved children. The American author Robert Fulghum once said, “Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you”. Nothing could be more appropriate, especially in the wake of the current scenario in the country! 

Bullying Is Learnt Too!

Children learn everything by carefully watching and imitating their parents and elders. When an instance of bullying is first reported, a parent must, at once, consider if there’s something at home that inspired such behaviour in the kid. What is bullying, is the first question we need to ask ourselves.

What REALLY does bullying mean?

Bullying is just another social interaction between peers, which takes an abusive form and can include violence, aggression, and harassment. Bullying can develop anywhere: at the school, at the family level, in the neighbourhood, or even at home.

Bullying In Schools

A child might threaten his peers or use force to dominate them when he wishes to establish his superiority over others. Children might also bully others if they have themselves been subjected to such bullying earlier.

Bullying in schools is also frequently the result of children from affluent families trying to exert dominance over their peers in a bid to boost their self-esteem. Needless to say, the causes of bullying are physiologically varied and are indeed complex in nature.

The Role of Parents

Parents need to watch out for the patterns in their child’s behaviour. Is he aggressive and abusive? Does he lose his temper easily? Does he show signs of anxiety or depression? If yes, it’s time to talk to your kid and seek professional help, if needed.

If you see these signs in your kid, try to find out about the root cause of such behaviour. Is he playing too many violent video games or watching a lot of violence on the web or TV? Is your home environment stressful? These should send an alarm call for you to take immediate action before it’s too late.

Bullying is a behavioural disorder that needs attention. Bullying meaning- any form of dominance exertion on the peers, it must be remembered.

Types of Bullying

1. Physical Bullying: This includes hitting, kicking, pushing, or any other form of physical violence.

2. Verbal Bullying: The use of threatening and abusive language against your peers. Disrespectful comments about religion, appearances, and disabilities also come under this category.

3. Social Bullying: If a child bullies others at play or during other social interactions, for example, by deliberately preventing some other kid from joining a group or a party, this can be classified as social bullying.

4. and, last but not the least….

Cyber Bullying

Social media has been the latest target of bullies, even kids. Children are now taking to the social network in spreading false rumours. Emails, text messages, and instant messaging have only aggravated the situation.

The social media is flooded with racist comments and explicit messages that are just another form of cyber bullying.

Talk, Talk, and Talk!

Too many problems in our millennium are a direct result of parents not spending sufficient time with their kids. It is crucial to talk to your children so they can confide in you always. Assure them you are always there for them, no matter what, and that you firmly believe in them.

They should not feel guilty about being bullied and must never hesitate in reporting the matter to you as soon as it happens.

This Bal Diwas (Children’s Day), be the best friend your child has ever known and you’ll see his life transformed, forever. Together, let’s initiate an anti bullying drive with zero tolerance towards bullying of any kind!

Vidhu Jain

A top-rated professional writer and an extremely passionate traveller who loves to live her life on wheels, Vidhu did her Masters in Radiation Biology. Writing had always been her passion- what started as a hobby eventually became a full-time profession. It works magic when your passion and profession are the same, so says Vidhu. She loves to explore the world of words with the might of the pen and documents some of the world's most unexplored places. Vidhu writes in a variety of niches including travel, lifestyle, photography, movies, critiques, art, heritage, culture, social issues, health, wellness, biology, cryptocurrency, the blockchain, etc. A voracious reader and a multi-award-winning scriptwriter, Vidhu has written scripts for numerous travel films and TV Shows for National Television and wants to bring a positive change to the lives of people everywhere with her writing. Vidhu is honoured to be an empanelled writer for UP Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh, India and her works have led to her organization, Sukhnidhey Films being recognized as India's only 'Outstanding' filmmakers by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She can be contacted on her email: vidhu@sukhnidhey.com or visit her blog: https://explore.sukhnidhey.com