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GRADE 7/8 HEALTH - BULLYING UNIT
Find the 6 words which are related to bullying in the word search.
Bullying with Words
Why name-calling Hurts Young Teens
By Teresa Pitman
This article provided courtesy of
Twelve-year-old Jamie Lee was thrilled to be selected for his town’s hockey
rep team. Sure his dad was assistant coach, but Jamie went through the
same tryouts as everyone else. He was excited and proud until one of his
teammates, who was also a classmate, began to pick on him. “You don’t
deserve to be on the team,” the boy said. “You only got on because your dad’s
a coach.” When he got other kids to join in, Jamie really began to doubt his
ability to play. Every time he made an error on the ice, he felt worse.
When Jamie wore his rep team hockey shirt to school one day, that same
teammate started the taunting again. “You have no right to wear that shirt
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to school,” he told Jamie. Crushed, Jamie never wore his rep team shirt to
class again. He’s 20 now, but those memories are still painful.
For most people, the word “bully” conjures up images of one kid punching
another when no adults are looking. But, a lot of preteen bullying happens
with words rather than fists. Debra Pepler of the LaMarsh Centre for
Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution at York University in Toronto
says, “Contrary to what people often believe, boys bully this way almost as
often as girls.”
Pepler’s 2003 research found that about 40 percent of grade-six girls were
involved in some kind of “social bullying,” including using hurtful or insulting
words, telling rumours or deliberately ignoring a child. By grade nine, 65
percent of boys and 75 percent of girls had bullied kids in these ways.
What does this verbal aggression look like? “Generally, it is comments aimed
at the child’s areas of vulnerability,” says Pepler. “The bully may poke fun at
the child’s appearance, intelligence, grades, clothes, family, racial
background, sexuality or sexual orientation — anything that a child might be
sensitive about. Bullying is about power, so the goal is to destabilize and
distress the victim — that’s what gives the bully a sense of power.”
The preteen and early teen years are a prime time for this type of bullying
to increase, according to Pepler’s research. At this age, she explains,
children are more concerned about what others think of them. They want to
fit in and be popular, so criticism from peers can be devastating.
Unfortunately, teens don’t always tell their parents about being bullied,
especially if it is done with words. What can you do if you suspect your child
is being targeted?
• Open the lines of communication: Talk with your child about what’s going on
at school or other activities.
• Ask in particular about friends, teasing and how your child is feeling.
• Watch for any changes such as a sudden reluctance to go to a certain
activity, headaches in the morning before school or being unable to sleep
because of anxiety.
If your child does report being bullied, Pepler says you should first let him
know how important it was that he told you. You then need to go to the
school (or hockey coach or whichever adult is supervising) to develop a plan
to both support your child and teach the bully the relationship and empathy
skills that are currently lacking — involving the bully’s parents too.
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By intervening with children in the lower grades, we may be able to prevent
the more severe bullying that can happen later during the teen years. Pepler
says, “We need to recognize that this isn’t just a rite of passage that kids
have to go through. It’s abuse. And kids need us to help stop it.”
Originally published in Today's Parent, April, 2006.
What is Bullying?
Bullying is mean because it hurts others. There are three types of bullying.
They are Physical, Verbal, and Relationship. Below are some examples of
these types of bullying.
Physical
- Hitting
- Kicking
- Pushing & Shoving
- Punching
- Stealing
Verbal
- Teasing
- Name-Calling
- Insulting
Relationship
- Refusing to talk to someone
- Spreading rumors about someone
- Making someone do something they do not want to do
Can you guess which type of bullying hurts the most?
(Answer: Verbal)
Information from:
(2005). It's My Life. Friends. Bullies | PBS Kids GO!. Retrieved March 5, 2007, from It's My Life Web
site: http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/friends/bullies/
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The following excerpt is taken from Barbara Coloroso’s book entitled,
“The Bully, the Bullied and The Bystander.”
Bullying is a conscious, willful, deliberate, hostile and repeated behaviour by
one or more people, which is intended to harm others. Bullying takes many
forms, and can include many different behaviours, such as:
• Physical violence and attacks
• Verbal taunts, name-calling and put-downs
• Threats and intimidation
• Extortion or stealing of money and possessions
• Exclusion from the peer group
Bullying is the assertion of power through aggression. Its forms change with
age:
School playground bullying, sexual harassment, gang attacks, date violence,
assault, marital violence, child abuse, workplace harassment and elder abuse
(Pepler and Craig, 1997).
“Bullying is not about anger. It is not a conflict to be resolved; it’s about
contempt –a powerful feeling of dislike toward someone considered to be
worthless, inferior or undeserving of respect. Contempt comes with three
apparent psychological advantages that allow kids to harm others without
feeling empathy, compassion or shame. These are:

A sense of entitlement, that they have the right to hurt or control
others,

An intolerance towards difference, and

A freedom to exclude, bar, isolate and segregate others.”
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Bullying Myths and Facts:
Myth: “Bullying is just, stage, a normal part of life. I went through it my
kids will too. ”
Fact: Bullying is not “normal” or socially acceptable behaviour. We give
bullies power by our acceptance of this behaviour.
Myth: “If I tell someone, it will just make it worse.”
Fact: Research shows that bullying will stop when adults in authority and
peers get involved.
Myth: “Just stand up for yourself and hit them back”
Fact: While there are some times when people can be forced to defend
themselves, hitting back usually makes the bullying worse and increases the
risk for serious physical harm.
Myth: “Bullying is a school problem, the teachers should handle it”
Fact: Bullying is a broader social problem that often happens outside of
schools, on the street, at shopping centers, the local pool, summer camp and
in the adult workplace.”
Myth: “People are born bullies”
Fact: Bullying is a learned behaviour and behaviours can be changed.
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Anti-bullying Pledge
This is for me…
…my friends today…
And my friends tomorrow.
I think being mean stinks…
I won’t watch someone get picked on
Because I am a do something person…
…not a do nothing person.
I care
I can help change things
I can be a leader
In my world there are no bullies allowed.
Bullying is bad…
Bullying bites…
Bullying bothers me.
I know sticking up for someone is the right thing to
do…
My name is (your name)
And I won’t stand by…
I will stand up!