In their article “101 Facts About Bullying”, Kevorkian and D’Antona look into the issue of bullying from various dimensions including how it starts and how it can be stopped. According to the authors, bullies are everywhere, in the work places, in schools and even in our neighborhoods (Kevorkian and D’Antona). The authors identify two form of bullying stating that both of them are just as bad because either way, the bullied is left hurt. The first form of bullying is psychological or emotional bullying while the second one is physical bullying. The psychological form of bullying has the victim receiving insults from the bullies and most of the times, jeering and spreading of untrue rumors is also part of the bullying. The question of importance is whether bullying can be stopped. According to the authors, this is possible since it is a habit that’s picked, and is common knowledge that habits can be picked and dropped making bullying not an exception.
Facts about Bullying
More often than not, bullying is all about a child’s upbringing and parents have a great contribution to the bullying. The contribution comes in because sometimes the parenting skills are wanting. In some homes where physical punishment is the way to go, children grow up knowing that getting physical is alright and it will always get them what they need. Again, where children have parents with emotional blackmails, this makes it look alright to bullies where they go ahead and practice it on their classmates (Kevorkian and D’Antona). The authors argue that until parents change their parenting skills and the way they live, bullying will continue being in schools for as long as people live. (Kevorkian and D’Antona).
How to Stop Bullying
Kevorkian and D’Antona argue that there is always a reason as to why the bully is picking on his victim and even if there is no reason, the bully will definitely come up with one(Kevorkian and D’Antona). The victim might be very slim, plump, tall, short, wears glasses, comes from another religion, comes from another race, is pretty, disabled or just more clever. The writers see effective discipline and early intervention as the way to go. Whether it is the bully or the bullied, the parents will need to do a lot to see to it that their children are brought up in the best of the behaviors. For the bully’s parents, they have to stop their violent lives and start living peacefully with the others in the family. That way, the children will pick up the good habits from their parents and the other family members (Kevorkian and D’Antona).
Kevorkian and D’Antona state that bullying can be stopped when all the stakeholders take their parts seriously. For the bullied children, they need to be helped with their self esteem issues by constant reassurances that they are safe and that nobody should hurt them. Sometimes the bullied children think that it is alright to be bullied because it is their fault and that is why they tolerate the bully, that’s why they don’t report the bullies. Their self esteem has already been eroded and it only takes the intervention of the teacher or an older person to get the back on the track. In some cases the bullied child is not so lucky and he or she ends up committing suicide which sometimes comes as a shock to the parents and the community around. That’s why parents need to be observant enough to know when their child is not alright. It is too unfortunate that some parents are always too busy and they never have time for their children. Parents need to change and create time for their children.
The bullies need to be taught how to be emphatic to other people’s feelings with their parents also stepping in to monitor them. The schools also have a big role to play by adopting a no-tolerance policy for bullies in schools. The authorities in the government should also be on the look-out for schools that don’t put strict measures to curb bullying (Kevorkian and D’Antona). The other way that would help in stopping bullying is incorporating both the parents of the bullied, the bullies and both the bullied children and the bullies into the bullying programs. By so doing, the parents will be aware of what is happening in the schools and they will know how to go about it. The most important thing is the parents’ awareness. So, bullying can be stopped and it will take all the stakeholders on board.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are various reasons identified by Kevorkian and D’Antona as the major causes of bullying. Bullying can be physical or psychological and all of these forms of bullying harm both the bully and the person being bullied. In respect to these causes and effects, bullying can be stopped where parents, victims, bullies and all people join in to stop this deadly habit.
Works Cited
Kevorkian, Meline and Robin D’Antona. 101 Facts About Bullying: What Everyone Should Know. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Group, 2008. Print.