Prevention of Bullying Among Children
Observation of the Isolation and Pain young People face
Lee Hirsch’s troubling and moving documentary “Bully” portrays the misery that children impose on others. The film also brings out aloneness as a very painful consequence of bullying. The feeling is also considered a significant cause of bullying in some way because the children, including the strange kid, the gay kid, the fat kid, and the new kid, are socially isolated. Adults are also blamed for failing to protect the vulnerable (Rios, 2017). For instance, Alex, the daily routine of Alex, from Iowa revolves around being assaulted, humiliated, and teased, particularly on the school bus, yet the parents fail to help him. He fears foto in the parents these events. He even defends the bullies by referring to their activities as “just messing around” even when called vile names and stabbed with pencils.
The Importance of Friendship for the Bullied
Generally, children can experience many benefits from just having friends. These include reduced stress, improve a sense of purpose and belonging, boosted happiness, improving self-worth and self-confidence, and assisting in coping with both small and large traumas. The benefits can help the bullied person, both in the coping and prevention of the occurrences (Holt et al., 2015). For instance, the friends can stand up for the victim in case the safety of the situation allows this, refrain from laughing and other ways of encouraging the bully, avoid taking part in the bullying, avoiding photographing or videotaping the incident for posting online and reporting the incident to an adult to seek assistance.
How Non-bullied Kids can Help Bullied Kids
The Non-bullied kinds should stand up for one another. The kids need to be taught on ways of helping their fellows who are facing bullying. For instance, an adult might encourage children to ask why the bully has decided to pick on others. The adults might also suggest children tell the bully if they think the activity makes them feel good, then they are wrong. Children should decline to participate or watch a bullying incident, starting conversations with others, therefore distracting the bully, and preventing a confrontation(Repo & Sajaniemi, 2015). The non-bullied kids should be encouraged to report any incident of bullying to the adults they trust, including parents and teachers.
Strategies for Parents to Assist Bullied Children
Parents need to calmly listen and support their children if they report incidences of bullying. Children may sometimes feel ashamed, reactive, and angry, upset, or fear to attempt to talk to an adult. They should praise the children for being open and talking about bullying. Besides, they should remind and reassure the children that you will figure out what to do together (Holt et al., 2015). The parents should inform officials at the school, such as the teacher, counselor, the school nurse, or the principal regarding the situation for them to monitor and take the necessary steps. Serious concerns regarding the safety of the child should be reported to local authorities. The most appropriate actions will most likely be guided by the precise type of behavior, the gravity of the situation, and the age of the child.
The Role of Educators and Education System
Schools are required to formulate ways of reducing the challenge of bullying, and this should involve all administrators, staff, and teachers. The team should be capable of distinguishing between bullying and teasing and avoid being judgmental when addressing the behaviors of students. The school needs to set age-appropriate rules and policies to enable the students to fully understand the practices expected of them (Repo & Sajaniemi, 2015). The school administrators should stress on acknowledging and reinforcing good behavior. This will encourage the students to continuously engage in positive behavior. Communication in school should be open as it is critical in building rapport. This will ensure the student is free to teachers and talk to them about their concerns such as bullying.
Personal Reflection of the Documentary
This documentary lets the subjects speak for themselves as it allows them to lead the film and do the talking. Every story provides a powerful and different aspect of bullying, with the journey considerably heart-breaking. The play depicts adults as doing little to prevent bullying because they are either unaware or ignorant of the vice, therefore, contributing to the incidences of suicide (Rios, 2017). The documentary is different from other good films as the villains control the control of the broken system that permits bullying while the supposed heroes are bullied. Bullying harms the victims ranging from self-esteem, use of drugs, poor performance in school, and suicide; hence should be strongly condemned.
References
Holt, M. K., Vivolo-Kantor, A. M., Polanin, J. R., Holland, K. M., DeGue, S., Matjasko, J. L., … & Reid, G. (2015). Bullying and suicidal ideation and behaviors: a meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 135(2), e496-e509.
Repo, L., & Sajaniemi, N. (2015). Prevention of bullying in early educational settings: Pedagogical and organisational factors related to bullying. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 23(4), 461-475.
Rios, J. L. (2017). Effective Interventions: A Case Study of the Effects of Bullying as Portrayed in the Documentary Bully (Doctoral dissertation).