Bullying can be described as an unwanted, aggressive behavior among school children or employees that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Both the victims of bullying and those who bully others experience long lasting negative consequences. Hence, it is absolutely necessary to take adequate measures to prevent bullying.
How to deal with Bullying among Children
- Help children to Understand Bullying – If the child does not know what constitutes bullying, then he may not be able to raise his voice against such a vile act and he may be more vulnerable to bullying. Hence, creating an awareness of bullying among children is the first step towards prevention.
- Encourage child to talk to a trustworthy adult – Psychologists heavily emphasize the importance of developing trustworthy relationships so parents, teachers, friends etc. should work hard towards establishing such relationships with the child. Such relationships would turn out to be extremely handy when a child becomes a victim of bullying or witnesses a bullying incident, as it would help the child to express his feelings openly, preventing the negative emotions from piling up and reaching the boiling point. Therefore, develop relationships that are centered around unconditional love, warmth, comfort, support and advice.
- Do not highlight the children’s imperfections persistently- Every child comes from a different background in a school and hence brings a wide variety of weaknesses with them. Thus, language barriers, perceptual barriers and many other weaknesses are evident within a classroom. Instead of highlighting these factors and making the children more vulnerable to bullying by fellow classmates, the teachers should encourage the child to overcome their weaknesses.
- Involve the children in Extra-curricular activities– Encourage the children to take part in extra-curricular activities according to their interests as these activities give kids a chance to have fun, develop confidence and build friendships that could later prove fruitful in protecting the children from bullying.
- Reward your child’s positive actions or behavior – When a child does something bad, it’s essential to point it out so that the child can improve that particular domain. However, rewarding positive behaviours is even more important as it strengthens the child’s ability to develop a strong character and prevents him from engaging in negative behaviour like bullying others.
How to deal with Bullying at workplace
- Stop bullying as soon as it is detected – If bullying is identified at workplace, take immediate action by warning the person who bullies others and if bullying persists, then that person should be terminated.
- Document the bullying incident– For legal purposes, it is essential to document the bullying incident as it can serve as a solid evidence. Whenever you encounter bullying, document the date, time, details of the incident and information about the witnesses. This data would be highly influential in supporting your claim against bullying. Remember the bully is not just hurting your feelings; he is destroying the organization’s success.
- Inform the concerned authority figure- Go to the Human Resource Department or your manager with evidence of bullying in the workplace. Accompany the evidence with the data of how bullying is negatively impacting the overall environment of the company and then file a formal complaint.
Are you being bullied or have you witnessed a bullying incident? Its time to take action now. Pukaar will provide a step by step guide on how to tackle bullying. So what are you waiting for? Pick up your mobile and contact Pukaar to receive the best possible guidance from highly trained psychologists