PLEASE read this with your child and ask and answer their questions. This is happening everywhere, everytown and in every State. This will not go away if we as parents do not put our foot down. Our children are commiting suicide because they see no way out, well there is!!
School Bully OnLine
Child bullying and school bullying
Bullying between children
Updated 14 August 2005
Welcome to School Bully OnLine, the child bullying and school bullying section of Bully OnLine where you'll find insight and information on school bullying and child bullying.
Frequently asked questions about child bullying and school bullying are answered on the FAQ page, including a strategy for dealing with a school which claims that bullying on the way to or from school is not their responsibility. Common misperceptions about child bullying and school bullying (eg that bullies are strong and victims are weak) are deconstructed on the myths page. The FAQ and myths pages contain information which may be of use in legal argument. Case law and out-of-court settlements related to bullying at school are on the case law page.
If you're being bullied or harassed by mobile phone or via text messages there's advice on how to deal with this.
Terrorism starts in the playground. Do you remember what school bullying felt like?
There's a new page, excerpted from the book Bullycide: death at playtime, on taking action to deal with bullying in school. The page contains advice for children, parents and teachers.
If you're a young person being bullied, or a parent looking for information on how to deal with school bullying, the School Bully OnLine links page lists organisations, helplines and web resources for tackling bullying between children as well as school bullying at school. The books page lists books, reports and publications on child bullying and school bullying.
More and more parents are deciding to educate their children at home and there's a page listing the leading web sites on home schooling. There's a page about the bullying of gifted children as well as about the bullying of children with special needs who are often especially unable to defend themselves against thuggery.
Few people realise that bullying can cause children (and adults) to attempt suicide and to commit suicide. Our book Bullycide: death at playtime by Neil Marr and Tim Field (published by Success Unlimited in January 2001) reveals that each year in the UK at least sixteen children commit suicide because of bullying at school. Bullycide is a word coined by the authors to describe when bullied children are driven to suicide rather than face another day of unrelenting bullying, harassment and abuse. See the reviews.
In other words, the equivalent of a Dunblane of children die every year because of violence which in many cases those in authority are ignoring or denying. Because a suicide must meet the criterion of beyond reasonable doubt, coroners are often unable to record this verdict, thus the verdict is often misadventure or accidental death. Also, coroners may wish to spare the family further pain from the stigma that surrounds suicide. Whilst understandable, these reasons have the unfortunate consequence of hiding the true figure of bullycide. Although no official statistics are kept anywhere, a search of newspaper and web archives indicates that bullycide is a worldwide problem. A list of children known to have committed bullycide is on the memorial page.
Bullying at school can leave scars throughout adulthood, impairing performance and preventing people achieving their potential. The psychiatric injury from bullying in childhood may also cause long-term damage to both physical health and mental health. The long-term effects were recorded in a survey undertaken by Kidscape and reported at a conference in 1998. The survey has been reproduced in Kidscape's 1999 book Bully Free.