National Bully Prevention Month

Let's Gets Real About Bullying

    Hello everyone and welcome to my very post for our Flawless Sapphire Blog. With this being my first post I wanted to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart. In the month of October there are several awareness topics and special days that we talk about, and one of those awareness topics that I will be talking about is National Bullying Prevention Month. So what is Bullying? In so many words bullying is any unwanted and harmful verbal, physical, psychological, sexual or social act committed by an individual or group, as well as any real or perceived threat or imbalance of power. Majority of the time bullying is associated with children/teens at school but it can also happen in your Adult years as well, at work or even by your next door neighbor.

Let's Go Over the Different Types of Bullying:

This is broken down into 3 different types: Verbal, Physical and Social bullying. The very first one Verbal Bullying is when someone is saying or writing mean/hateful things about you. Some things that are Verbal Bullying can include: name-calling, taunting and threats. This is the most common type of bullying especially at school. We always hear "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me", but we all know words do hurt and those words can become drilled into you head to make you believe them. 

The next one is Physical bullying. Physical Bullying can involve hurting a person’s body or possessions. This can be anything from hitting, pushing, taking someones personal things to spitting and making rude hand gestures. This type of bullying can make a child afraid to attend school in fear of being assaulted by the bully and can lead to them being a weapon to school to defend themselves from the bully. When I was middle school a girl in my class would always push me when she walked passed me and everyone would laugh. She saw nothing wrong with this because it was just a push but when it became an everyday thing it now has become an act of Physical Bullying. 

Lastly we have Social bullying, which in my opinion has become more apparent in todays' society. With all different types of social media now available it seems like kids are taking it to the Internet to further the bullying epidemic. Social bullying can be hurting someone’s reputation or relationships in social setting, like at school or the workplace. This can include telling other kids not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors and embarrassing someone in public. We all know how rumors can damage someone due to people believing in it and now this person can be excluded in social groups and becomes alone. 

Here are some statistics with bullying, as far as how much it happens and what kinds happen:

What are the Signs of someone being Bullied?

Even though there are multiple signs to show when someone is being bullied here are a few just for to look out for. 

1. Unexplainable injuries

2. Declining grades, not wanting to go to school

3. Difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares

4. Sudden loss of friends, avoiding social situations

Please pay attention to the signs because even though we may think its just a phase it can be something more. When a child's behavior just changes out of the blue we have to investigate and see what may be wrong. It is always hard for someone to tell if they are being bullied, so try to be more considerate and put them in a safe place for them to be comfortable to tell you what is going on. 

Thank you so much for taking the time out to read my blog post. For further information please checkout: https://www.stopbullying.gov/ and https://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm/

Be Blessed, 

Big Sister Concrete Rose