Bully

A child who has to endure bullying usually suffers from low self-esteem, and their ability to learn and be successful at school is dramatically lessened.

I shared this simple idea with my teacher friend once upon a time without posting here. 

Many times, I felt that I was doing the right thing, and that we should be acting accordingly. Our life gears around doing right and wrong things. Among 100 circumstances, we create 90 of them ourselves. And 10 of them can be earthquakes, hurricanes, vehicle accidents, etc., that are natural and happen once in a blue moon. 

We aren’t born liars! We aren’t born bullies! We aren’t born rich. We aren’t born wrongdoers! We are born as humans to rich and poor families. The background is diverse, but we are born with the same mind, a mind that possesses fear, courage, and mercy. We must have cried for another infant's cry when we were newborns. The children will offer unsolicited help to adults who appear to be struggling to reach something. Babies will also show a distinct preference for adults who help rather than hinder others. 

Therefore, we must teach our kid the right thing. And we should ask why students in school bully. What is the main reason behind their mischief? Are these students born bullies? Are these students lacking morals from parents? Or is it the character building that has not yet started for them?

The bully is not only common among students. Now it is encroaching on teacher-students and teacher-parents. Last year in Thimphu, a teacher simply tapped the back of a student. The student informed his parents and father that the boy bashed the teacher. He is the worst bully in the entire group. 

And if this is the situation, could teachers step in and stop the bullying? Could parents do more to curtail bad behavior? Or could preventive measures have been started years ago, in early childhood, long before bullies emerged and started heaping abuse on their peers?

If we don’t act now, bullying will shape our education system. Moving from primary to secondary school or secondary school to college can be scary—new surroundings, new teachers, and, for many, a whole new friendship group. It's also a time when bullying peaks and young people feel especially vulnerable, which means they often need a lot of support.

A child who has to endure bullying usually suffers from low self-esteem, and their ability to learn and be successful at school is dramatically lessened. He/she will be traumatized. Schools and parents must educate children about bullying behaviors; it will help all children feel safe and secure at school. Children who bully need to be taught empathy for others’ feelings in order to change their behaviors, and the school must adopt a zero-tolerance policy regarding bullying.

The best and most obvious way to stop bullying in schools is for parents to change the way they parent their children at home. Of course, such an approach is much easier said than done, and everyone parents their children differently. Bullies, however, come from homes where physical punishment is used and children are taught that physical violence is the way to handle problems and get their way.

Bullies usually also come from homes where the parents fight a lot, so violence has been modeled for them. Parental involvement often is lacking in bullies’ lives, and there seems to be little warmth.