What is bullying?
Wrexham AFC are supporting Anti-Bullying Week, and will be sharing a number of articles and videos across our official channels from Monday November 15 to Friday November 19.
First, why are we supporting this campaign? What is bullying?
Bullying affects lots of people and can happen anywhere: at school; travelling to and from school; in sporting teams; in friendship or family groups; or even in the workplace.
Bullying is usually defined as repeated behaviour, which is intended to hurt someone either emotionally or physically. It is often aimed at certain people because of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, or any other aspect such as appearance of disability.
Bullying can take many forms, including but not limited to:
- Physical assault
- Social bullying
- Threatening behaviour
- Name calling/verbal abuse
- Cyber bullying
If you are being bullied at school, tell a friend, tell a teacher and tell your parents. It can be hard to do this so, if you don’t feel you can do it in person, it might be easier to write a note explaining how you feel. You could perhaps confide in someone outside the immediate family, like a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin and ask them to help you tell your parents what’s going on.
If you feel able to, please confide in a teacher you trust. You can ask a friend to come with you so you do not feel alone.
If you don’t feel you can do that, then speak to the school nurse. Don’t be tempted to respond to any bullying or hit back – you could get hurt or get yourself into trouble too.
Above all, please never be bullied into silence. You must always tell someone. You are not alone.
Being bullied does not mean you do not matter. It can happen to anyone. Take a look at this video, where famous people discuss their experience of bullying. How many do you recognise, who have now gone on to be successful despite facing bullying?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBwf-VPZqDs
More information
More information is available from the following resources:
National Anti-Bullying Helpline UK
Wrexham AFC would like to thank all three organisations for their permission to use content from their websites and for supporting the club with this week-long campaign.
Each day, we will be sharing videos and topical songs from our account related to each topic covered.
SONG OF THE DAY – GOOD CHARLOTTE – Hold On -
Anti-Bullying Week 2021 - resources
Bullying behind a keyboard is still bullying
Cyber-bullying is when bullies use the internet to bully people. Bullies harass, threaten, embarrass or target another person by using the internet, mobile phones or other internet devices.
Cyber-bullying can take a number of forms, such as posting hurtful images, making online threats, or sending hurtful emails or texts.
Cyber-bullying is a growing issue, and can be particularly profound as bullies will often say things online they would not have the courage to say face-to-face.
More than half of 12-15-year-olds in the UK have faced some form of bullying, including cyber bullying, over the last year.
Research by the National Centre for Social Research found 47 per cent of young people reported being bullied at the age of 14. The same study showed girls are more likely to be bullied than boys in the same age group.
Signs a child is getting cyber-bullied include unexpectedly stopping using the computer, not always having their phone with them and attempting to stay away from the internet, social media and mobile phone.
They may start getting jumpy whenever they get unexpected text messages, emails or instant messages and not want to go into school. The victim may get angry or depressed after using the computer, or not like talking about what they have been doing on the computer.
Cyber-bullying is particularly harmful as it can get at someone 24/7, unlike other forms of bullying.
Please see the following video, aimed at secondary age children:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03Br1dwJR8
SONG OF THE DAY: Jessie J – Who’s Laughing Now
Cyber bullying can start at a much younger age these days, with more and more primary age children starting to have mobile phones and more regular access to the internet.
Cyber bullying is when someone is bullied by the use of technology, for example on your mobile phone or on your computer.
There are some key steps to take to limit the chances of this happening to you:
Don’t ever give your name, age or address to anyone online who you don’t know, or without your parents’ permission.
If you think someone is upsetting you online, tell a parent or a teacher as soon as you can.
Don’t ever be afraid to tell somebody.
Always remember, this is not your fault. The internet can be an amazing place and you can learn so much from it. Don’t be afraid of it, but always be aware.
Don’t ever chat to strangers, but instead enjoy chatting to your friends and family. Most importantly, have fun online.
Please see the following video, designed for primary age children, for more information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ctd75a7_Yw
SONG OF THE DAY: Jessie J – Who’s Laughing Now
Physical bullying occurs most often at school, or on the way to and from school.
Secondary school is the age when bullying is most common, with almost all secondary school students being affected directly or indirectly by bullying in some form.
This is an age where young people want more to fit in with their peers, making some children more likely to bully or condone bullying just to fit in.
More likely to occur among males, bullies may have a number of reasons for bullying others.
This could be wanting more control or wanting to fit in.
Bullies are often physically stronger than their victims and have friends who condone their behaviour.
Children who bully others, however, often have trouble with self-control, following rules and caring for others. They are at higher risk of problems later in life, such as violence, criminal behaviour or failure in relationships or their career.
Please watch this video, aimed at secondary age children, about physical bullying and its effects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqUpcPLf2aA
SONG OF THE DAY: Hunter Hays – Invisible
Physical bullying is perhaps the easiest form of bullying to spot. If someone kicks, punches, slaps, pushes, trips, spits, steals or damages your property, books or clothes, then that is physical bullying.
Bullying could be something that happens every day, but also less often. The impact can be the same, however, making you feel very sad or not want to go to school to see your friends.
Try and be brave, and don’t show the bully you are scared or upset. If you feel brave enough, then tell the bully – what you did is not OK, it is not nice, please stop.
Bullying is never OK, and nobody should ever hurt you on purpose.
If you think someone has been being nasty to you, or hurting you, always tell your parent/guardian or your teacher.
The following video has been prepared for primary age children:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq3Z9msqnOg
SONG OF THE DAY: Hunter Hays – Invisible
Verbal bullying can focus on anything from weight, appearance, disability, race, gender, sexuality, or anything that marks someone as different from others.
Sometimes, it can be confusing trying to work out whether this is banter or bullying. Where is the line?
A one-off incident may be more fairly classed as banter, but regular, persistent name-calling or insulting is verbal bullying. If you have asked for someone to stop, and they have not, it is verbal bullying.
Verbal bullying can have devastating consequences for people on the receiving end of it.
Remember, not all forms of bullying leave bruises.
Why would somebody resort to verbal bullying? There could be a number of reasons:
- They might be doing this to impress their friends or build up some type of reputation
- They may have been bullied themselves and to deflect the attention or because they are angry, they go onto bully someone else.
- They might be enjoying the attention or reaction
- They might be having problems at home or at school so they are taking this out on someone else
- Lack of self-esteem of confidence so they act in a negative way
- They might be angry and frustrated and looking to take things out on someone else.
The impact on the victim, however, can be profound. Please see this video, where our Disability Liaison Officer, Kerry Evans, discusses her experience of bullying when in school.
SONG OF THE DAY: Bars and Melody – Hopeful
Verbal bullying is the most common form of bullying, even in primary school age children.
No-one should be bullied. Words are powerful and can make somebody really sad. Words do hurt. It is not nice to call names, or be called names.
Verbal bullying is when somebody says nasty things to you, or laughs at you, or makes you feel like you are different.
This might be in class without the teacher knowing, but more commonly it occurs out on the playground – a safe space where you and your friends should be having fun.
The best way to stop verbal bullying is quite simple: don’t be the bully.
Don’t be known as the bossy friend. Don’t single people out for things that might make them different from you. Someone who looks or acts differently to you, still has the same feelings.
Treat others as you would want to be treated yourselves.
Always be kind to others. Always look out for others. Most importantly, always have fun with everyone.
Please see this video, aimed at primary school children, about verbal bullying and the harm words can cause: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvcVmJTvLQI
SONG OF THE DAY: Bars and Melody – Hopeful