Something that seems to be reoccurring in our school systems in several different ways is bullying. Bullying is when one or more people continually hurt or scare someone. The defines it, but that are some ways in which are considered bullying that you may not realize.

According to the section named “Bullying is…” by Girls Health bullying can include using the internet to slander someone, making fun of someone for being ‘different’, name calling, or even physically hurting someone; pinching, biting, hitting, shoving, etc. All of these things I can see being GREAT examples of bullying. However, there are a couple of things that are mentioned that I will have to say are not always signs of bullying.

One of the signs of bullying that caught my eye and that I believe is dependent on the situations is “leaving someone out of group activities on purpose”. I work with elementary school children and middle school children daily. They sometimes purposefully leave kids out of some games for MULTIPLE reasons. Sometimes it is because they do not get along with the other child. I’m not saying this is always the case and I can see how some kids are bullied through being left out, but I also believe we have to give some kids credit when they know not to play with someone who they do not get along with or will cause them to get into trouble. We have to be able to spot the differences.

Another sign of bullying that I couldn’t wrap my mind around was “giving someone the ‘silent treatment'”. I am a 24 year old adult who still gives the silent treatment to people. The reason this is done is to give an outlet for anger. You usually give this treatment to someone is has hurt you or your angry at in order to not go off on them. I do this to my husband CONSTANTLY in order to keep my cool and not haul off and hit him. I really do believe this is a good outlet for angry to take place of hitting, yelling, or fighting. I can see in some situations how it may not be the case, but once again it is about being able to tell the difference. In Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins the silent treatment is used a couple of times to really get a point across or to deal with anger, like with Gale. I think Passive-Aggressive Silent Treatment is more closely linked to bullying.

I would like to conclude that bullying is horrible and should be stopped, but make sure you are aware of what to look for exactly and do not punish children for doing the right things.