Elementary School Lessons

Bullying is one of the most important concerns that parents with school children face.

Bullying accounts for a big chunk of the stresses that our school children go through in school. Some of the sources of their stress are exams, lack of sleep, completion of requirements and more exams. With all these things related to the academics that they should be focusing on which also includes maintaining friendship, peer-to-peer relationships, managing schedules and doing some functional organizational tasks, being bullied is one they should not be thinking about. Aside from bullying, some schools have school violence issues as well.

How can one know that his/her child is being bullied? Here are several tell-tale signs that a child is being bullied:

• torn, damaged and missing school supplies, uniforms, and other things that belong to the child
• scratched and bruised body parts but child won’t disclose what happened
• has a few friends and refuses to join other school-related activities like clubs
• shows apprehensions in going to school or walking to and from school or riding the school bus
• if walking, takes a longer route from home to school or vice versa
• looks sad, depressed, tired, and not in the mood when child comes in from school
• complains of different aches just so he/she won’t go to school
• loss of appetite
• if there is packed lunch, food has been eaten but the child is hungry when he gets home
• has bad dreams or trouble sleeping
• has low self-esteem

These are signs that parents and guardians should look for if they think their child(ren) are being bullied.

Children who are being bullied in school do not usually say that they are being treated as such so it is best that parents take these steps to know what is happening:

• Talk to your child. You can either use direct questions: ” Are there any kids at school who may be picking on you or bullying you? saying mean things to you? “ or use a subtle approach: “Are there any kids at school who you like or really don’t like? Why do you like or don’t you like them? Do they ever pick on you or leave you out of things?”
• Set an appointment to talk to the school staff and report what you have observed with the child.

If the bullying still persist, perhaps it is time for the school to do something about the bullying episodes which may include not just your child but other children as well.

With bullying being rampant in the country as seen in this study of 2,442 children from 58 public schools in 3 provinces in the Visayas,it was found out that “At least 5 out of 10 children in Grades 1-3, 7 out of 10 in Grades 4-6, and 6 out of 10
in high school have experienced some kind of violence in school.”

Senator Miriam Santiago’s Senate Bill No. 2677 mandates all schools, whether public or private, including colleges and universities, to craft policies that will address the problem of bullying in their respective institutions. Further more, Senate Bill No. 3177 entitled An Act Defining Cybercrime focus on crimes done in the cyber world and may very well include cyber bullying.

With all these bills being filed, still bullying persist.

As parents, we prefer that the schools our children go to have measures to counter bullying from happening.

In a recent open forum with other parents and Reedley International School, (RIS), we learned about the school’s Anti-Bullying Campaign or ABC.

The Reedley International School Anti-Bullying Campaign or Bully Proof Campaign states that: “I am Bully Proof At Heart, In Mind and In Spirit”

What activities were lined up with RIS Bully Proof Campaign?

• contract signing and pledging of students and teachers
• new students have “I an NOW bully proof” while old students have “I am bully proof” pins
• essay writing contests
• poster-making contests
• film showing
• pirate family month
• video presentations of students who used to be bullied
• kindness overdose

How does this Bully Proof Campaign work?

According to Reedley International School’s Director of school development Emil Ong and Middle School principal Jo Anne Bilo, students are encouraged to be pro-active and involved by reporting if they witness or experience any form of bullying. They are also encouraged to show kindness to each other. Reported and confirmed incidents are investigated. The life coach consults with the students and parents, conducts interviews and seeks to resolve the conflicts the soonest possible.

There are appropriate penalties for those who initiated the bullying.

Now, if only schools put more effort in curbing the bullying among their students, our children need not go through all these emotional pains.

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