Page 38 - Waterfall City Issue 7 July 2024

Waterfall City Today’s Child

How to deal with
BULLYING BEHAVIOUR

By Nicola Killops

B ullying is a pandemic. Bullies Why do some children bully Ensuring safety at school

others?
The Western Cape Education
comes in all shapes and sizes,
Department has established a plan
Bullying is intentional, repetitive
and sometimes, the act of
bullying is so subtle that it
Programme, which works with schools to
is almost impossible for the victim and the result of an imbalance of action called the Safe Schools
of power. Children who bully are
to articulate or pinpoint. It can be often deeply insecure and need to ensure safe school environments needed
physical, psychological or emotional. empower themselves by weakening for successful teaching and learning.
others. There are often issues at According to a study conducted by Safe
But what is bullying exactly? On the home that leave the child desperate Schools, bullying is rampant in South
surface, it’s about children having for attention, and they lash out African schools with about 3.2 million
disagreements or getting into moods elsewhere instead of at the root of children being bullied annually.
and taking this out on a vulnerable their emotional pain.
child. On a deeper level, it’s about a child When surveyed, children defined
showing a disturbingly mean streak and Delving deeper, it’s often discovered bullying as both verbal and physical
going all out to pick on one or more of that the bully is or was themself a abuse, and more than 67% of children
his or her peers and to then ostracise victim of bullying at some point. It’s who had been bullied did not seek
them by teasing, mocking, humiliating, a distorted way of paying it forward help from an adult because they didn’t
belittling or physically attacking them. to regain self-esteem. believe it would do any good or they

36 Waterfall City Issue 7 2024