ADULTS ROLE IN BULLYING

1. Introduction
What are the roles adults play in bullying? Can parents, teachers and peers influence bullying
behavior in children? The purpose of this article is to provide a summary regarding adults who
have almost daily contact with children and their pro active actions in bullying. Adults have a
great influence on the attitudes and behaviors of their children, and because of this responsibility,
they play critical roles in both addressing and preventing bullying.

2. Parents
Parents are usually the first person children look upon as role models and therefore, this article
will first analyze the role of parents in bullying. Parents should feel free to talk about bullying
with their children. Doing this helps their children understand what it is, why it is harmful, and
how to respond. Parents should give a comprehensive picture of bullying and what they can do
when they face bullying. They should give advice and tips for dealing with bullying, such as
immediately saying stop, walking away, and getting help from adults. These children should
also be taught how they can help others who are being bullied, by speaking up and reporting it.
Parents should also encourage children to speak up if they are bullied or witness others being
bullied. Play the role of an authoritative parent by giving the freedom to children to speak up and
encourage to report bullying that they experience or witness. They should also develop clear
rules and expectations about how other children should treat them. These rules should be strictly
enforced to emphasize teaching appropriate behavior from other children. Start early and coach
these children on both the donts (push, tease, and be mean to others) as well as what the dos (be
kind, empathize, and take turns). Children should be taught on proper action to be taken if
someone is mean to him or to another (report to an adult, walk away and ignore the bully). Most
importantly, parents should show warmth and be engaged. Having parents who ignore or spend
little time with their children will increase the likelihood that a child will be a pessimist, not
discussing anything with anyone; while having active and engaged parents reduces this.

3. Teachers

Schools play a vital role in stopping bullying. This is because most of such cases happen on school
grounds, during recess or in bathrooms. Schools should enforce zero-tolerance programs that make it
clear that bullying won't be tolerated. Reports on any kind of bullying should be taken seriously and
immediate actions should follow up. Teachers should raise awareness of bullying through school
assemblies and classroom discussion. These talks should include teaching healthy ways to promote
positive attitude and means of controlling anger. They should also teach the value of cooperation,
useful communication skills and friendship. Conferences can be held with the parents of both
children involved in bullying incidents. Schools should increase parents' and teachers' (PTA)
involvement in school programs so that both the parties will have first-hand knowledge on the
activities of the students. In the classroom, teachers should make it clear that bullying will not be
tolerated. They can drive-in this message by diversifying their teaching method, such identify
bullying in books, TV shows and movies, and discuss the consequences of bullying and how it
can be resolved.

4. Peer Group
Best friends can assume the role of a comforter and make the victim feel good about themselves
and reassure them that they are not as mean as the others. It will make them feel more confident
and not let this ruin their life. Peers also can build a team comprising of students who volunteer
to mentor threatened or mistreated children. These team members can meet regularly to discuss
their positive actions, the outcomes of those actions, and how they feel about their good deeds.
They should organize campaigns to disseminate the message that bullying is just part of growing
up, is a total misconception. As students continue to hear positive encouragements and examples
of kind alliance behavior by their own peers, they see these actions as more desirable and more
normative. Then students will be more well prepared mentally and most likely to respond to
bullying confidently.

6. Conclusion
Without adult guidance and the failure to fulfill their roles, the chances children enduring these
intimidation will never come to an end. Adults are the foundation of stopping bullying. Adults
are the bed rock of bully prevention. They are instrumental in training, enforcing and reinforcing
positive attitudes of the children toward bullying.
REFERENCES

Understanding the Roles of Parents and ... - Stop Bullying.gov

https://www.stopbullying.gov/...center/hrsa_guide_parents-and-caregivers_508v2.pdf

NEA - Parents' Role in Bullying and Intervention

www.nea.org/home/56805.htm

Supporting positive peer action - Stop Bullying Now

stopbullyingnow.com/supporting-positive-peer-action/

Bullying Prevention: 5 Tips for Teachers, Principals, and Parents ...

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/bullying-prevention-tips-teachers-parents-anne-obrien

Bullying-The Role of Schools in Bullying - WebMD

www.webmd.com/parenting/tc/bullying-the-role-of-schools-in-bullying