What makes a Bully?
Bullying behavior can be identified as early as pre-school age, and some children who are bullies continue this behavior into adulthood. Most children learn to control their anger and fighting instincts as they grow older, but not the bully. These children have special characteristics. Children who systematically bully others usually have a group of children they bully regularly while other bullies randomly target a variety of students.
Bullies have particular behavior and personality traits. Dr. Sam Samenow describes these as:
greater than average aggressive behavior patterns
the desire to dominate peers
the need to feel in control, to win
no sense of remorse for hurting another child
a refusal to accept responsibility for his/her behavior
Parent(s) of bullies usually support their child's aggressive behavior toward other children and often bully their child.
What happens to Victims?
Adults, like children, resent being bullied, except that adult victims have more options available to them than do child victims. Children cannot escape the school yard, the change room, or the cafeteria. Sometimes, victims do not survive the torture and humiliation of bullying.
In most situations, victims do survive, but carry their emotional scars for a lifetime.
Above statements are excerpts from:
Bully B'ware Productions - take action against bullying
which is a very informative site regarding the very real impact that bullys have. In this day and time with everything that goes on in schools and 'children' committing atrocities against their peers and teachers....well, I think it is no longer just a little 'picking on someone' problem. It goes so much deeper than that. Sometimes it is a matter of life and death. Consider the ages of the children that have been invloved in a schoolyard plot or action against their peers or teachers. Getting younger and younger?
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