Bulldog’s Knowledge
Definition of Bullying
Using your power to intentionally hurt someone physically or verbally over a period of time. Power is your physical strength, your words, your social status, your popularity, and your friends. Hurting others through words, pushing, shoving, kicking, and tripping is using your power.
Bullies search for their victims and initiate bullying; they seek the most vulnerable and least threatening person as a target.
A bystander is a person that witnesses the bullying behavior, but does not seek help nor tries to stop the behavior. A bystander is often fearful to take action because he/she does not want to be a victim. A bystander has conflicting emotions of guilt, fear, empathy, and sadness. A bystander often fears the word “tattle tail” or “snitch”.
Physical Bullying
Pushing, shoving, kicking, spitting, hair pulling, book checking, tugging, checking each other, and/or tripping.
Cyberbullying
Youth often live in two different realities: the physical and the virtual world. With this sense of reality, youth might have two different identities and when their virtual world is attacked it impacts their physical world. Cyberbullying is a form of indirect aggression that involves an intentional act carried out by a group or individuals, using electronic forms of communication such as emails, text messages, social networks, chat rooms, and websites to repeatedly harass victims over time online.
Relational Aggression
Behavior is evident in all age groups from pre-school to adulthood. It happens in forms of direct and indirect bullying. This can be demonstrated by rumors, excluding, betraying a friend, hurtful teasing, manipulating and controlling.
- Verbal: Gossip, name-calling, laughing, yelling, and spreading rumor.
- Emotional: Blackmail, hate book, note passing, rolling eyes, giving someone dirty looks.
- Exclusion: not letting someone be part of your group or not letting them be your friend, ignoring them, and/or telling other friends not to talk to a certain classmate.
Overcoming Cyberbullying
Students’ Strategies to Overcome Bullying
- Don’t pass along cyberbullying messages, news feeds, and/or pictures
- Block all communication with cyberbullies
- Set an example and discourage your friends from bullying others online
- Report cyberbullying to a trusted adult and Facebook
- Get in touch with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for assistance in blocking cyberbullying
- Report cyberbullying problems to the local authorities and give them copies of bullying messages you’ve received (document evidence)
- Speak with other students, teachers, and school administrators about developing peer mentoring groups against cyberbullying
- Don’t share your password with friends or boyfriends/girlfriends
- Log out of your social media sites after using a friend’s computer
- Learn about how to use your privacy settings (set privacy settings to friends only)
- Your friend list on Facebook should equal your friends in real life
- Delete any friends, posts, or pictures that make you feel bad about yourself
- Avoid making your post public (make them accessible to your friends only)
- Share your own story about cyberbullying
- Keep all pictures and posts PG
- Don’t share your phone number or personal information on Facebook
- Do not post videos exposing yourself on YouTube
Teachers Strategies to Overcome Bullying
- Set guidelines for students’ internet activities and talk about how they are spending their time online
- Talk openly about cyberbullying and why they shouldn’t participate in it
- Discourage students from retaliating if they are being bullied online
- Keep the computer in a high-traffic area of the school so Internet activity is visible
Social Conflict Defined Download PDF
Parents’ Solution to Social Conflict Download PDF
Bullying Prevention
Join Bulldog Solution as we share resources to help reduce bullying, cyberbullying, and drama. Check out our weekly posts on our Bully Boot Camp Blog page! Knowledge is power!
Not sure where to start? Here are some easy ways to increase awareness during Bullying Prevention Month in your school:
- Read the definition or facts about bullying over the daily announcements
- Have a student committee run a Bullying Prevention Project. Students can create posters with resources to share around the school
- Send home the Social Conflicts Defined resource attached to this email so parents understand the definition of bullying
- Elect weekly leaders from your school to share resources to reduce drama and bullying during the daily announcements
- Follow our blog for daily tips and resources throughout this month: http://www.chicagonow.com/bully-boot-camp/category/bullying-prevention-month/
Bulldog Solution’s Mommy Blog Project
Join Bulldog throughout the entire month of May as we feature our Mommy Blog Project! Here you will find interviews with 31 women who continue to touch lives through their kindness, friendship, humor, passion, and determination. Each of these women have some great secrets as they open their doors and let us into their “mommy world”. Their stories bring us back to the realization that we all go through struggles, make mistakes, and sometimes need to “fake it until we make it” as parents. Join us as we celebrate these mothers throughout the month of May and share daily parenting tips.
Bulldog Solution’s Community Outreach Initiative
Using our Knowledge and Resources To Give Back
Join Bulldog Solution in our Community Outreach Initiative as we bring communities together to produce a wide-scale change in reduce bullying and violence. The greatest impact comes from connecting community members, parents, government officials, local businesses, and schools to share resources and support community growth. Through the sharing of time, resources, and knowledge, we can work to grow youth into productive leaders within our communities.
Bulldog Solution believes that in order to have the greatest impact, communities need to come together to share their resources, knowledge, and support. Together we can increase positive behavior to reduce the effects of bullying and violence.
Join us in building community responsibility within your community this spring and summer!
View our videos here:
Ineffectiveness of Assemblies and Motivational Speakers