Just take an examples that an honor-roll student named Simon Jones jumped off the Bridge in New Westminster, Jones, 14, left a seven-page note that said he was killing himself because his classmates tormented him with names like gay or faggot. He had never told his mother he was being bullied. For many years now schools have been trying to tackle this problem.



Bullying has been defined as ?the tendency for some children to frequently oppress, harass or intimidate other children, verbally, physically or both, in and out of school.? Bullying is the general term applied to a pattern of behavior whereby one person with a lot of internal anger, resentment and aggression and lacking interpersonal skills chooses to displace their aggression onto another person or a person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people.

International research suggests that bullying is common at schools and occurs beyond elementary school; bullying occurs at all grade levels, although most frequently during elementary school. It occurs slightly less often in middle schools, and less so, but still frequently, in high schools. High school freshmen are particularly vulnerable.

Bullying has two key components: repeated harmful acts and an imbalance of power. It involves repeated physical, verbal or psychological attacks or intimidation directed against a victim who cannot properly defend him- or herself because of size or strength, or because the victim is outnumbered or less psychologically resilient.

It seems that children bully for a variety of reasons and when dealing with child bullying it's essential to identify who is the bully at the center of the violence - there's usually one person who's the gang leader - and the reasons for bullying which include:

?Frustration - a child is impaired in some way and is frustrated and resentful because the source of their difficulty has not been identified - problems can include dyslexia, autism, allergy, being left-handed, some unidentified learning difficulty - nevertheless the child is expected to perform at the level required by the school and no attempt is made to identify the source of the frustration.

?The child is being bullied, the responsible adults have repeatedly failed in their duty of care, so the child slowly and reluctantly starts to exhibit aggressive behaviors because that's the only way to survive in this bullying-entrenched climate.

?Poor or no role model - the child has no role model at home, or a poor role model for one or both parents and has never had the opportunity to learn behavior skills

?Undue influence - the child has fallen in with the wrong crowd

?Abuse at home - the child is being abused and is expressing their anger through bullying

Bullying at school can leave scars throughout adulthood, impairing performance and preventing people achieving their potential. The psychiatric injury from bullying in childhood may also cause long-term damage to both physical health and mental health.

It is important for parents and teachers to be alert to the signs that a child is worried about school, and to talk regularly about school issues so that an opportunity is provided for concerns to be raised. When that happens action should be prompt and effective. However, new research shows that children and young people had very mixed feelings about telling an adult as they felt that it could make matters worse. These issues of trust cannot be assured in just the occasional conversation; they have to be developed as part of the total relationship.

If a child learns how to bully, and gets away with it, there's a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest they leave school and carry on their bullying in the workplace. So some advices are provided to the kids and parents also.

ADVICE FOR TEENS/ KIDS

?Stand straight and tall if faced with a bully; look him straight in the eye.

?Be polite but firm. Tell the bully "Stop it, I don't like it. Leave me alone."

?If at all possible, don't cry or show you are upset. Walk away if you can't hide your feelings.

ADVICE FOR PARENTS

?Contact your child's school, anonymously, and ask if there is a bullying policy.

?Then, if assured your child won't be exposed to greater risk, inform them of the events that transpired, including a date, time and place.

?Follow up with school authorities. Ask what action has been taken and how your child will be kept safe if his identity has been exposed.

If you know lot of knowledge about how to tackle this issue just go to the following web sites:

http://www.troubledteens4jesus.com/

http://www.abundantlifeacademy.info

http://www.abundantlifeacademy.us/

It offers a wide variety of information pertaining to parenting teens in today's society. They hope that the information presented on this site will be of some use to parents everywhere.