If you’re being bullied at school your parents really need to know about it. Bullies don’t usually stop until they’re forced to so
although you might hope the problem will go away on
its own it usually needs an adult to intervene.
It can be hard to tell your parents if you’re afraid they’ll be annoyed or upset but they’d be more upset if they knew you were unhappy and hadn’t told them about it.
Your parents should first contact your class teacher if you’re at primary school or your head of year and then head teacher if you’re at secondary school.
Sometimes people are afraid the bullies will make more trouble for them but your parents could ask for supervision to be increased so that the bullies will either not be able to get away with their behaviour or they’ll be spotted in action.
Bullies pick on the things about you they know upset you most. This could be your looks, weight, a disability, because you work hard or are popular. In fact, they’ll pick on things like your family too if they think that’s the thing you don’t like.
It’s best to try not to react to their remarks because that’s what they like most. That doesn’t mean you should ignore what they say, you should report it to a teacher, your school nurse or your parents.
Bullies can wind you up and make you so upset you want to hit back. Don’t do that because you’re the one likely to get into trouble. Tell your parents what’s going on. If you’re hit, kicked or threatened with violence your parents could make a complaint to the police.
Keep a diary of bullying so that if you need to, you can show your head teacher and the police what’s going on.
Be careful who you give your mobile phone number to. If an ex-friend starts giving it to other people and you get threatening or abusive calls or text messages get your parents to contact the police and change the number.
If anyone targets you with an abusive website you don’t have to put up with it, Bullying Online can help you and your parents to get it closed down. The same goes for website forums where people may post insulting and upsetting messages.
By Liz Carnell
Director of Bullying Online
For further help:
Bullying Online:
www.bullying.co.uk
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