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Protecting our Kids: Bullying


Three plead not guilty in school bullying case which led to Phoebe Prince’s suicide – News.com.au

One in 10 teens cyberbullied every few weeks – The Daily Telegraph

A ‘watershed’ case in school bullying? – USA Today

Headlines like this concern me. Bullying is a big problem for school aged children and teens. Whilst I realise that bullying is not a new problem, the additional impact of technology as a means of intensifying the pressure against victims whilst providing a veil of anonymity to the bullies, is frankly, frightening.

From The Daily Telegraph;

“Most of those being cyberbullied are also being bullied face-to-face, research by the Child Health Promotion Research Centre at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia shows.”

“The research also found young women were more likely to ask adults for help than young males, but adult intervention didn’t always resolve the situation.

Being cyberbullied also affects the victim’s life at school, with the victim six times more likely to feel disconnected to school and seven times more likely to never feel safe at school.”


From USA Today;

“Parents might not realize that the stereotypical bully of generations past — a swaggering schoolyard lout, low on self-esteem, quick to lash out, easy to identify — has become as anachronistic as the blackboard at many schools.

Educational psychologists describe a new kind of bullying. The perpetrators are attractive, athletic and academically accomplished — and comfortable enough around adults to know what they can and can’t get away with, in school and online.

These bullies are so subtle and cunning it’s hard for school staff to know if what looks like bullying really is, and what to do about it.”

As parents, we cannot stick our heads in the sand when it comes to bullying. We cannot live in denial in the hope that it will not happen to our child. We need to arm ourselves with strategies to educate our children from the youngest age. Watch out for an upcoming series of posts which introduce strategies to help ‘bullyproof’ our children, and to help them learn to empathise, to care for others.

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. miss carly says

    I think something that is more scary than bullying itself is that it starts so young. I have seen 4yr olds bullying. It might not be as physical or emotional as the older children receive and give it out, but it still upsets them a great deal.

    I don't think that teachers should be sticking their heads in the sand either, sure a school might have an anti-bully curriculum/policy in place but doesnt necessarily mean it is being implemented.

    Looking forward to the next posts!

  2. Kakka says

    Having had a child that was bullied from Year 1 – Year 12 I scoff at school bullying policies.

    I have also heard 'not my child' from the parents of bullies – it is a learned behaviour (from home) or just part of a person's personality?

    Sometimes it is part of the group mentality – so a gang of bullies forms, better to be one of them than the victim?

    Sorry bullying is one of my pet peeves. Looking forward to the posts.

  4. allison t says

    I always feel a little bit sick reading about bullies and cyberbullying, looking at my little boys and wondering… I'm looking forward to the posts too Christie. Like you said, we need to be forewarned and forearmed.

  5. Kendra says

    Regular face-to-face bullying is scary. Having been victimized myself in high school and knowing the impact it can have on your life and self-esteem, I feel strongly about protecting my kids against it and arming them with the tools they need.

    But the cyber-bully phenomenon is beyond me. I hardly use these tools and have very little grasp of how young people could use them to terrorize one another. That's the thing that really scares me, because I can't defend them against something I don't entirely understand.

    I'm looking forward to your thoughts and ideas. My oldest is just 6, so hopefully I have plenty of time to figure things out before it's needed.

  6. Hear Mum Roar says

    I fully agree about not sticking our heads in the sand. What has worked with my school aged daughter, is everyday I ask her about the good things that happened at school, then I ask her if anything bad happened. I get a lot of answers this way.

    The other thing that I feel is of huge importance in stamping out bullying, is that all of us parents need, instead of blindly believing our child would never bully anyone, is to teach them NOT to bully people. We need to address all the different forms of bullying with clear definitions.

    This is something I feel is rarely addressed and needs to be.

  7. Megan says

    Look forward to reading more on this topic. When we fear something, I think we need to arm ourselves with information about it.

  8. SenseiMattKlein says

    Bullying is a huge problem worldwide. We teach self defence karate for kids in Sydney, Australia. Kids that are trained in the martial arts are not only less likely to get bullied, they are also less likely to get into fights.

    Like Hear Mum Roar's approach to finding out about what happens in school (good and bad). The parent needs to take an active role in the situation.

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