Bullying

Bullying happens when a person is mean to another.

Bullying can be:

pushing, shoving or other hurtful actions
calling someone names
putting down someone’s clothes or the way they look
putting down how someone else talks
shutting someone out from play, games and groups

Any action that singles someone out or makes a person feel bad can be bullying – and it’s not limited to kids.

In your age group, however, bullying tends to happen to kids who might have trouble defending themselves – maybe they are smaller in size, have fewer friends to defend them or look and act differently from most of the kids in school or on the playground. Maybe the bullied kid is new to school, and doesn’t have friends yet.

We’ve all seen kids bullied, Maybe you’ve been bullied or even joined into bullying someone else.

It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past. Now that you’ve come to this page to learn more, you can join in to stop the bullying and get hacks to help deal with being bullied.

If You’re Being Bullied

Try to stay calm.
Take a deep breath.
Tell whoever is bullying you to leave you alone.
Go somewhere safe. Walk away from the bully.
Tell someone you trust (like a parent, older brother or sister, teacher, guidance counsellor, principal or another helping person you feel safe with) and ask what they can do to help. It’s always OK to tell to keep yourself or someone else safe. (Kids doing the bullying often say not to tell anyone, but bullying usually doesn’t stop until it comes out in the open.)
If you are nervous or shy, ask a friend to come with you to share what is happening.
If the first person you talk to isn’t helpful, tell someone else. Keep going and tell another helping person. It sometimes takes a few tries before you find someone who knows how to help.
Try to find friends who will stick up for you.
Ask someone like a teacher or playground monitor to keep an eye out for you.
Try to find kids to hang out with or join in a game. Bullies tend to target kids on their own.
Practise asking the bully to stop ahead of time. You can do this in your head or even in front of a mirror.
Do something that is fun or relaxing for you like playing outside, listening to music, making art or going to a safe place like your room. It’s important to do things that make you happy when you are going through a hard time.

Helping to Stop Bullying

If someone is being bullied, tell an adult. It doesn’t matter if it is you or someone in your school or neighbourhood being bullied. Tell an adult in your family, a teacher at your school, a coach or any helping person what is going on and ask for help.
Try Not to fight back as it usually doesn’t solve the problem. Both kids can get in trouble for fighting and people can get hurt using violence.
Telling the bully that it’s “not cool” is helpful. When bullies don’t get approval from other kids for their actions, they often stop.
Try and include the bullied kid in group activities, ask them to join a game, or walk with them in and out of school. Including kids helps everyone feel better.