Verbal Bullying Affect Children

How does Verbal Bullying Affect Kids?

A young girl leaves her home and right when she walks out the door, she wanted to turn right back around. She knows it will be a bad day. Every day is a bad day. The fragile girl continues on the whole day all while anticipating returning home. At last, the end of the day arrives! She quickly walks out of school with her head down and tries not to bring attention to herself. They spot her and start to stare with a smirk that is so knowing. The comments and names start to roll off their tongues. She begins to walk faster and faster away until she is at a full sprint with tears streaming down her face. This is just one example of many ways verbal bullying happens. People don't understand that it can hurt

the person being bullied, even more than physical abuse.Most people in society do not even know what it is and how it affects children every single day. Verbal bullying needs to end because the effect on children’s lives is too great and dangerous.

There are all different kinds of bullying in this world.

One of the most reoccuring is called verbal bullying. What is verbal bullying you may ask? This is where children or adults use their words to gain power over others and seek out to hurt them. Given that point, verbal bullying has many things that classify as abuse. It can include name calling, teasing, threats, spreading rumors, or even making sexual comments at other people. Society makes this out to be just fun and that it doesn’t mean anything. Furthermore, that children need this type of behavior to make them stronger and prepare them for the “real world." A concept that society never really seems to understand is that over a period of time, it really tears down a person’s self-worth in their own eyes. When you think of verbal bullying, your brain automatically goes to school children picking on each other. Something that is equally as important is that adults can be verbally bullied and abused. If you analyze the definition and all the examples that go with it, you will realize that this happens to adults constantly. In fact, verbal bullies, no matter the age, will try to use harmful words against you almost anywhere and anytime. One place this happens at is in school and more specifically it would be in the classrooms. Not only there, but also in adult workplaces, the internet, and even someone’s house. What happens to the kids after the abuse starts is a completely different

story.

Verbal bullying can affect children in more ways than one.

Most often you will find that it is mentally, but it can also go as far as to a person’s physical aspect. The bully does not have to lay one finger on you to cause you physical harm. For example, a young girl is constantly getting picked on because of her weight. She goes on to have an eating disorder and no one notices. The abuse eventually leads her to do self-harm to her body. Unfortunately, self-harm is more frequent in today’s world. We all think, “Why would you do that to yourself?” The answer is when you go out in public and constantly have someone just going at you and using language that should never leave a person’s mouth, it begins to have effects. For children, they want someone to hear them and understand. When they feel like they are not being heard, children start to do reckless acts of behaviors and it only gets more serious as time goes on. Most children, especially young ones, tend to take words to heart and overtime they will start to see themselves differently. They will look take one look in the mirror and not see the amazing person they are, but the words that someone has said. Moreover, it could affect a child’s future. Verbal bullying can cause other dangerous effects too. Not only depression or substance abuse, but also even suicide or cutting if it gets serious enough. When children experience verbal bullying, they presume that no one cares and will ever care. The child embarks on becoming

antisocial and withdrawing from daily life. In the event that verbal abuse happens, the brain will begin to have slow development. This could hurt them academically and even socially. This is because they do not want to trust anyone and can not form relationships with people. These are necessary to help you succeed. In some cases, it can bring back past issues. This includes mental, physical and sexual abuse. Granted that they do have these issues, it will make it more difficult to go forward. The big question is now, how can we help make sure this does not happen to future generations of children?

You can not always help a child fully recover from verbal abuse. Instead, we should worry more about making sure that verbal bullying never even begins. To do this, we must go all the way back to the start. This is when you were a child living with your parents. With this in mind, your parents can actually be held responsible for a child to start to verbal bully. How is this possible you might wonder? The first step in this is with your parent’s other offspring. Growing up, most children tend to have sibling rivalry and fighting occurs. Parents can be held responsible because if they do not stand to stop this tormenting. They need to make sure there are consequences in place on siblings or it will lead to future problems. Also, if they do not help teach their kids to not have reactions to everything. This is a major reason why verbal bullying goes on. Parents have many options to prevent this. For instance, parents can play verbal games with the child without ever letting them know that you are actually teaching them. So, if a child complains about a sibling calling them a bad name, respond by asking if they believe this. Next, sit them down and make sure you emphasize they are not this name and that the sibling will get repercussions for their wrongdoing. During this talk with the child, parents need to review different ways to deal with bullying. Some solutions to bring up is walking away or saying neutral responses such as “so” or “whatever.” One of the most important things that parents can do is overemphasize how important it is to tell a trusted adult when verbal bullying arises. Equally as important, the guardians need to take a growing interest in a child’s life and to check for any signs of abnormal behavior. This can count as going to sporting events, taking your child out, or praising them when they do good. In the future, this will help with self-esteem and make them have confidence. On the other hand, schools are just as much as a part of the fight to put an end to bullying as parents are. Schools can start programs to teach kids more and make sure that they provide a safe and kid friendly environment. Teachers are a part of this major fight because they are with children in a small setting and are more aware of what is going on. They need to take action when suspicion arises in the classroom. In addition, we must remember that teachers do have twenty or more kids, so they will not catch all problems. At the end of the day though, putting an end to one small bully can make the biggest difference.

To conclude, you see that verbal bullying affects kids in very serious ways and that we need to take a stand together to fight the battle of verbal bullying. In this world, part of our job is to help make it better and this is just one step towards that goal. Just think, we can help someone see themselves for what they truly are before they come to the worst conclusions. As in everything, this will take some effort and time from many, but in the end it will be worth it and one more life is saved.