Bullying affects everyone. Whether you’re the target, the bystander, or even the kid who picks on others, there’s something you can do to put an end to bullying.
“It’s none of my business—I should just ignore it and walk away—right?”
Wrong!
Put yourself in the target’s place. If you were being pushed around, laughed at, gossiped about, made fun of, ignored on purpose, you’d probably want someone to help you out.
And it doesn’t even take that much to make a difference. The very least you could do is to NOT join in. Your non-support of someone bullying sends a clear message that you don’t agree with what’s happening. If you see someone being laughed at, instead of turning your back, help the target to turn his or her back to the bullying by walking to class with him or her, telling them that they don’t deserve what’s happening to them. Show your support. Kids who are bullied often feel like no one cares—help them feel like they’re not alone.
What else can you do?
If you read cyberbullying, write something nice on the target’s wall or let the person bullying know it’s not cool to make fun of people online, or you can even report in anonymously and many service providers will remove the post.
But if it’s a fight you witness, don’t try to step in the middle. Instead, tell an adult or other authority figure what’s going on so that they can intervene.
You can always let your teachers and parents know so they can help out—bullying is not just about physical fights, words have the power to injure too, both online in and person. Teachers are there to help you out, not just give you homework, and parents care about what happens to you.
What Should You Do? Peer Advocacy | PACERTalks About Bullying Episode 24
Insights and advice from students as they think through how to respond to real life bullying situations. In this video middle school students from a “peer advocacy” group explore how to handle a scenario in which a student with down syndrome is being bullied.
What Should You Do? Ways to Be There | PACERTalks About Bullying, Episode 19
Insights and advice from students as they think through how to respond to real life bullying situations.
What can make an even bigger difference?
Get your friends to help out, too! This is an issue that affects a lot of people and most of them want it to stop too, so get together and start a bullying prevention program at school.