Rise Above/Anti-Bullying Campaign
Understanding Bullying
Bullying: Unwanted, aggressive behavior among two or more people that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power. This behavior is repeated, or has
the potential to be repeated over time.
• Imbalance of Power: Kids who fully use their power-such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity- to control or harm
others.
• Repetition: Bullying behaviors have a high chance of occurring more than once.
Roles: There are many roles that people can play. People can bully others, they can be bullied, or they may witness bullying. When kids are involved in
bullying, they often play more than one role. Sometimes people may both be bullied and bully others or they may witness other people being bullied. It is
important to understand the multiple roles kids play in order to effectively respond and prevent future bullying.
1. Kids who Bully: These children engage in bullying behaviors towards their peers. Often, these kids need support to change their behavior.
2. Kids who are Bullied: These children are the targets of bullying behavior. Sometimes these children need help learning how to respond to
bullying.
3. Kids who Assist: These children may not start the bullying or lead in the bullying behavior, but they serve as an assistant to children who are
bullying.
4. Kids who Reinforce: These children are not directly involved in the bullying, but they give the bully an audience.
Types of Bullying: The most well-known types of bullying include, but are not limited to, verbal bullying, social bullying, physical bullying, and cyberbullying.
1. Verbal Bullying: Saying or writing something offensive towards another.
a.
Teasing
c. Taunting
b.
Name-calling
d. Threatening to cause harm
2. Social Bullying: Hurting someone’s reputation or relationship.
a.
Leaving someone out
c. Embarrassing someone in public
b.
Spreading rumors
d. Keeping kids from being friends
3. Physical Bullying: Hurting a person’s body or possessions.
a.
Hitting/Kicking/Pinching
c. Taking or breaking someone’s things
b.
Spitting/Tripping/Pushing
d. Making mean or rude hand gestures
4. Cyberbulling: Bullying that takes place using electronic technology. It is different from other forms because it can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week. Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult and
sometimes impossible to trace the source.
a.
Mean text message/emails
c. Spreading rumors through social media
b.
Creating fake profiles
d. Posting embarrassing pictures
community outreach - Rise Above/Anti-Bullying Campaign
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