Bullying can happen to anyone at any age. It can happen in and out of school and online.

The Anti-bullying Alliance defines bullying as the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.

Bullying includes:

• Name calling
• Making things up to get others into trouble
• Hitting, pinching, biting, pushing and shoving
• Stealing others belongings/money
• Damaging others belongings
• Taking friends away to make someone feel excluded
• Cyber-bullying - posting hurtful remark, images or videos online including bating videos.
• Spreading rumours - including setting up false online profiles
• Threats and intimidation including bribing to circulate images or videos
• Making silent or abusive phone calls

We know that bullying can have a significant and detrimental effect on children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health. We also know that children with mental health issues are more likely to be bullied. Bullies can frighten others to the extent that they don't want to go to school, and pretend to be ill to avoid them.

Social Networking

Social Networking trends can be tricky to stay up to date with but this can also change within different cultural groups. ASK.FM is rarely used now but is still popular within other countries such as Poland. Therefore you need to be alert to what children and young people use to communicate with their friends in Torbay and further afield. Click here for the NSPCC's downlow on the common platforms being used. 

Protective factors for cyber-bullying are shown in the following diagram which includes a positive and safe learning environment which covers relevant personal and social skills.

Empathy is the central component of emotional intelligence. Empathy can go a long way in preventing bullying.

What’s more, studies show that kids who are empathetic have better relationships and perform better in school. So what is empathy? The video below helps to explain just that.