Dealing with high school bullies can be a big issue for teens and there are ways it can be dealt with effectively with positive results, which can put an end to bullying whether the confrontations are physical, verbal, social or internet related.
High school students who become the targets of bullies need to be equipped with the best possible strategies to stop bullying in its tracks. There are essentials in handling bullying, which include:
Basic Actions
If bullying is continuous and a teenager is dealing with it in a number of areas, including social media, school authorities and parents need to be notified immediately. In addition, records and documentation of bullying occurrences need to be maintained. Both these basic actions should be of help in constraining bullying.
Physical Confrontations
Physical bullying is obviously dangerous and teens need to have ways to deal with it without getting physically involved themselves. If a teenager is being tripped, hit, shoved, punched, kicked or worse, he or she needs to do everything possible to make it difficult for the bully to make direct bodily contact. Separating or extricating oneself from a confrontation is the best way to deal with physical bullying. The behavior must be immediately reported to a school administrator or security official. No one wants to be accused of assault, and a bully can turn the tables on their target and accuse that person of the same actions, so documentation of what actually occurred needs to be reported and recorded.
Verbal Confrontations
Verbal bullying usually involves comments that are degrading, shaming, isolating and hurtful. Bullying remarks can be challenged with assertive replies by the teen being harassed and through complaints to school authorities and parents. If a teenager is reluctant to report this kind of bullying to a teacher or principal in charge of discipline, he or she should speak with a parent, and the parent should contact the school for further action.
Social Confrontations
Social bullying usually involves teen relationships and the harm that can be inflicted through spreading rumors, destroying reputations, lying, excluding others and turning a person’s friends against them. This kind of bullying can be curtailed when instances of it are brought out in the open and the truth is exposed. Intervention can come through a school counselors, parents or the teens themselves. With open communication and set intervention guidelines, those doing the bullying lose their influence and power.
Cyber-Bullying
Cyber-bullying through social media sites usually involves taunting or threatening a teen through e-mails, messaging or chats. The best way to avoid this type of bullying is to make online teen accounts private so others are unable to view a profile or postings to a profile. If bullying does occur, a teenager can print off a chat log or e-mail that indicates the interactions and submit it to a parent or school official. Schools are more likely to handle these issues even if the bullying occurred outside of the school grounds, particularly if it involves students enrolled in the high school.
Bullying is a concern at almost every school level, and it can be dealt with in a number of ways. High schools and other schools with zero tolerance bullying policies can immediately curtail bullying, and if there happens to be no discipline procedures for bullying, administrators, counselors, teachers and parents can establish intervention strategies on behalf of students. Students themselves should not have to be afraid to report bullying without recrimination. Bullying can be prevented with the right strategies and willingness of students to expose it.