What is Peer Bullying? How to Prevent Peer Bullying?

Bullying, which is a concept that we hear frequently especially in schools recently, is a situation that can cause annoying results and seriously harms children’s social relations.

It is very important for families to be informed about peer bullying. You need to be able to tell if your child is being bullied or bullied. You should read this article we prepared for this.

What is peer bullying?

Peer bullying; It is the name given to verbal or physical violence that children of the same age inflict against each other or a single person, usually in schools or in friendships. To explain a little more, a group or a single child against another child;

• Crushing, hurtful words,
• Making fun of any feature,
• Threats and blackmail,
• wearing derogatory nicknames,
• Crushing it in front of your friends
• violence practice,
• Again, situations such as trying to get him to do the things he wants to do (not taking food, getting homework, etc.) fall into peer bullying.

The children who are bullied are usually smaller, less physically developed, and quiet boys than the others, and girls who are more developed than their peers.

The victimization of the bullied child gradually increases in cases such as keeping silent, submitting to the bullying and not telling the situation to any adult. Sometimes, although the child tells about this situation to his elders, some statements such as “We were joking” may come from the other side, and sometimes the child who was bullied may be thought to exaggerate this situation.

Sometimes, although the child explains the situation, he or she cannot get enough help from the elders and has to give in to the bullying. As a result of this situation, serious psychological problems and sometimes even suicides can be experienced.

What symptoms are seen in a child who is bullied?

• sudden unhappiness,
• boredom,
• introversion,
• Low self esteem,
• I don’t want to go to school,
• Not meeting with friends
• I don’t want to leave the house,
• depressive behaviors,
• Decreased school performance
• Running out of money early
• Symptoms such as frequent illness and abdominal pain are among the signs that the child is being bullied.

What are the types of peer bullying?

We have briefly mentioned these situations above, but for your better understanding, let’s break down the bullying behaviors.

verbal violence

Verbal violence mostly;

• Making fun of physical features (such as braces, glasses),
• To curse,
• making fun of her dress,
• Writing injurious texts in the school toilet,
• It takes the form of criticizing over physical barriers, if any.
• physical violence
• Push,
• hair pulling,
• slapping-kicking,
• Spitting,
• Violent behavior, such as getting others beaten, may be involved. Apart from this, violence can also be applied to other people or things that the child loves.

social violence

• Exclusion from the friend group,
• do not play,
• Preventing other children from communicating,
• Social violence can be seen in the form of disrupting relations with friends. These are especially experienced in peer bullying in primary school.

sexual violence

The most disturbing and highest level of peer bullying is sexual violence.

• sexually explicit swearing,
• Trying to touch the genitals
• In later cases, behaviors such as harassment and rape can be seen.

What are the causes of peer bullying?

The bullying child;

• Growing up without love
• not loving himself
• Having experienced a trauma
• Desire to be popular
• Having a behavioral disorder
• Having psychological problems
• Wanting to give an impression that is hard and unbreakable,
• Poor family relationships
• There are reasons such as growing by making every wish.

These children lack problem-solving skills and often have a desire to inflict pain on the child they are bullying. They may not regret these situations. They can also be harsh with adults and are generally incompatible.

Ways to deal with peer bullying

We know that you are wondering how to prevent peer bullying. Parents and teachers have responsibilities in preventing peer bullying. We will talk about them separately.

What the family can do to prevent peer bullying

As we mentioned above, the child who is bullied often cannot share this situation with his/her family. Therefore, the job falls to you. First of all, you can ask your child some questions to find out if he has been bullied. But ask your child, “How was your day?” Instead of suffocating with cliché and boring questions like this, you should ask questions that will interest him and get fine information. For example;

• “Did anything happen at school today that you won’t forget?”
• “If a friend of yours wasn’t coming to school today, who would you want it to be?”
• “Do you like your school?” Questions such as:

Apart from these;

• Explaining the bullying to your child thoroughly and simply
• In such cases, you should tell your teacher or you to tell him,
• Set an example for him with your actions,
• Chatting with him often
• make her trust you,
• Teaching what to do when someone treats him badly, is among the solutions for peer bullying.

In addition, when you realize that your child is being bullied, you need to ensure that he receives psychological support without wasting time so that his mood is not damaged and he does not have bigger problems in the future.

What teachers can do to prevent peer bullying

Peer bullying is an event that can happen to children, whether in primary or high school, without giving it time. Teachers play a very important role in this case. In order for teachers to prevent peer bullying in schools;

• Showing love and respect to their students,
• Enabling students to share their problems with themselves,
• Addressing the issue of bullying
• Working together with the school administration on peer bullying,
• They need to organize anti-bullying activities.

How should peer bullying children be evaluated?

Bullying in schools is not an issue that can be resolved in itself. The family of the child who is found to be bullying should definitely be contacted and it should be ensured that they are aware of the issue. Then, first of all, the school’s guidance service should examine the child correctly.

The bullying child may deny or misrepresent the subject. It can also express what the child deserves. In such cases, an attitude such as seeing the incident as legitimate or laughing should not be taken.

Children who are bullied should also be provided with psychological support and the reasons for peer bullying should be evaluated in detail. If necessary, psychological treatment should be started on this issue and the child’s problems should be addressed.