School Bullying

Bullying is an unwanted, aggressive behavior. The behavior is repeated, or can be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:

• An imbalance of power: Kids who bully use their power-such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, popularity- to control or harm others.
• Repetition: Bullying behavior happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

There are different classifications of bullying. These are:

• Verbal bullying-saying or writing mean and nasty things. It includes:

1. Teasing
2. Name-calling
3. Making inappropriate sexual comments
4. Taunting
5. Threatening to cause harm

• Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying- hurting someone's reputation or relationships. It includes:

1. Telling other children not to be friends with someone
2. Spreading rumors about someone
3. Embarrassing someone in public

• Physical bullying- hurting a person's body or destroying his/her possessions. It includes:

1. Hitting/ kicking/ pinching
2. Spitting
3. Tripping/ pushing
4. Taking or breaking someone's things
5. Making mean or rude hand gestures

• Cyber bullying- verbal and social bullying done through use of technology and electronic means. It includes:

1. Using social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
2. Using mobile devices (i.e. cellphone)
3. Using electronic mails (i.e. e-mails)