By Seema Mir
ISLAMABAD, April 9 (APP): Bullying at schools if not stopped when it
is started causes long term damages to personalities of both the bully
and the bullied children.
Beside shattering the confidence of the bullied child, it also does
psychological harm to the bully.
Moreover, it badly hurts victim’s self-esteem beside damaging his or
her personality that requires a long time and hectic efforts on part of parents to rebuild the child’s shattered confidence.
Further, bullying can threaten students’ physical and emotional safety
at schools and can negatively impact their ability to learn.
Causes and effects of bullying as pointed out by a psychiatrist Dr. Nabeela Majid are:
Low self-confidence
Depression
Abnormal fears and worries
Sleep disorders
Nervousness.
Frequent crying
Bed-wetting
Poor appetite or digestive problems
School problems
Rage
A bullied child Zainab Noor while talking to this scribe said, she felt
scary of the child who used to bully her although an old best friend of her.
The issue, an academician advised, should be handled subtly, involving
both the bully and the bullied children.
More importance should be given to the bullied child, just to help
her/him to overcome her fear, she emphasized.
Another academician said case history of the bullying child should be
traced so that it can be established that why the child was bullying
others.
She further said, the best way to address bullying was to stop it
before it starts.
A teacher floated an advice for kids to always portray their confident
and bold posture and hide nervousness by standing tall and straight, adding looking directly at people when speaking to them.
Speaking in a clear and loud tone, and, being neat and tidy, she
advised would send the message that any foul behaviour would not be acceptable.
There are a number of things school staff can do to make schools safer
and prevent bullying, she added.
According to research when adults whether teachers or parents intervene
quickly and consistently to bullying behaviour they send the message that
it is not acceptable.
It further shows this can stop bullying behavior overtime.
The findings of research were endorsed by the mother of a bullied child, Samina Durrani saying ,”when I noticed my child was being bullied at
school by classmates, I immediately contacted the school administration.”
Taking it diplomatically with the class teacher and school management
she said, “I got the issue resolved with the grace of Allah Almighty, adding the school administration responded positively and solved the issue.
When asked about how she came to know that her child was being
bullied, she said, her child used to narrate to her daily happenings in
the school from where she got the hint.
Psychiatrists say kids who are bullied can experience negative physical,
school and mental health issues.
Kids who are bullied are more likely to experience depression, and
anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep
and eating patterns and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy.
The observations of psychiatrists were endorsed by the mother of
bullied child, Samina Durrani said.
