So once again I receive a call from a parent who states that their child is being bullied and the school is doing nothing about it. Our company is named reportbullying.com, so parents feel they can call us to report bullying. Over and over again I hear the same comments… “my child is being bullied and the school is doing nothing about it.
Schools in Canada have this new approach that we are not going to use the word bullying. I can understand why? You see these schools over the years have had victim speakers come to their school. The problem with victim speakers is, they’re reactive and they’re NOT experts in the area. When they speak they make everyone think that all things are bullying. Teachers then hear the word bullying on a daily basis.
I was at a Canadian school over a year ago. I received a call from the principal that they wanted me to make my presentation 45 minutes instead of one hour because a student who attended their school was bullied and she wanted to talk about it.
I went up first and started to educate students on what harassment, intimidation and bullying was. the indicators as well as the difference between conflicts and bullying. What stood out the most was the area when I explained the difference between teasing and taunting. Teasing is a joking type comment made within your circle of friends where taunting (which is bullying) is done outside your circle of friends. Now the students understood that teasing is not bullying but taunting is.
I guess this lady showed up to speak with about 5 minutes left in my presentation. She then stood up for 15 minutes and used the word teasing about 7 times stating she was bullied by the kids teasing her. This is exactly why Canadian schools need an expert to talk too and explain bullying. One thing we hear from schools all the time is the reduction of the word BULLYING because the students use the right vocabulary when explaining to teachers what had happened instead of using the word bullying for everything.
Just one last thing to schools in Canada…. If it’s bullying , it’s bullying. It’s not another word or meaning.
