Many individuals hold the misbelief that bullying their peers as well as becoming victims of this social vice is part of the life of every person. Contrary to this misconception, the truth is that the act of bullying impacts a person beyond many individuals imagination especially those who have never been a victim. In fact, many individuals who experience this problem are forced to take extreme steps that can bear serious consequences not only to them but also to the perpetrators. Other people also defend this misbehavior by claiming that it is part of growing up and that it helps individuals, particularly during their earlier years, to learn how to stand up for themselves.
Although some children may actually stand up for themselves and retaliate against the oppressors, there is a considerable number who just helplessly maintain silent and end up growing into introvert and recluse people. The second group of children not only encounter challenges while growing up, but also the impact of bullying may last for a long period, in worst cases for their entire lifetime. In this essay, I present my personal experience of being bullied and some of the effects I faced.
My experience as a victim of bullying took place during my second year at primary school. One classmate hated with a passion for reasons I do not know until today. Not that other pupils in my class liked him because but because he came from a relatively well-off family as he would invite my peers to very cool places during the weekends. He took advantage of this matter and so a good number of my classmates wanted to befriend him. In addition to his background, I could not match the size of this boy, another factor that he took advantage attack me on a few occasions but in most of the time, he simply enjoyed making stereotyped jokes about me. He would even tease, threaten or discourage my classmates from playing with me.
On many occasions, I would play with sticks while on the playground. Whenever I made any attempt to defend myself he would report me to the teacher and some of my peers would back him up. Being a new pupil in that class, my classmates would say I was pretentious and full of myself. Some would claim that I was getting used to the new environment, therefore I would be really quiet. They misinterpreted my calmness.
At home, I decided not to share my ordeal with my siblings or parents out of fear that my dad or brother would make a fuss. I tried to convince my mother to take me to a different school to avoid bullying but my sister and brother went to the same school as me. Unfortunately, neither my parents nor my teacher paid enough attention to my please as, for example, my family was busy trying to adjust to a new life. My mother even claimed that it was maybe the pressure of coping with the new changes that I was dealing with: a new school, new teachers, and the pressure to make new friends. My dad would explain to my mom that perhaps this new environment must have been very daunting for me as we used to stay in a suburban where most people knew each other. According to my teacher, I was not making enough effort to settle in.
Bullying has a lot of negative effects and consequences on the victim. During this difficult time, I often emotionally withdrew. In most of the times, I was quiet, shy and self-contained which escalated to the point whereby I started experiencing a lot of problems interacting with new classmates. Regular exposure to the stereotypes, humiliation, and social isolation made me to drawn in a world of my own. This world was never a happy one. Despite appearing happy inside, I always felt being anxious, depressed, sad, and lonely. At the time, I could not sleep or eat well, and even activities that mattered to become less enjoyable. One clear sign that I may have had a serious issue with bullying is when my siblings or parent tried to get me to do some things that are fun (such as going to the cinema or take part in an outdoor activity) but I would feel reluctant to do so. This shows that bullying takes away a childs critical time from taking part in outdoor activities, interacting with his or her peers, as well as getting involved in other physical activities and exercise, which can bear adverse impact not only on their social behavior but on their physical and mental health tool.
Furthermore, the impact of bullying affected my concentration in my school work as well as daily activities at home. Excessive exposure to this mistreatment caused me to experience difficulties in paying necessary attention to social interaction, classroom activities, and homework. This could vividly manifest in poor performance in academics as well as home related activities. For instance, bullying made me create a social distance between my peers well as my parents. Similarly, my suffering under the hands of this rude boy made me feel a sense of withdrawal when asked to participate in class activities. I often felt somewhat an uncomfortable sense of withdrawal or tense or upset when my teacher would ask put us in small groups and find myself in the same group with my bully. Interestingly, this often feeling disappeared when put in a different class or the group activities come to an end, a sign that can show that I had serious problems. Nonetheless, I started performing poorly, which I believed came to persuade my parents to take the bold step of transferring me to another school.
Having little or no clue about how the school system work baked with lacking the confidence to explain to the teacher what I was really going through did not help either. When I realized that things have gotten out of hand, I decided to contact the head teacher. Both my teacher and parents were very shocked and apologetic that they could not see what was happening. Or rather, they perhaps noticed what I was going through but did not think that it was a serious issue.
The teacher tried to address this matter by making sure that the boy and those whole witnessed me being bullied and failed to report the incidences were punished. Moreover, the head teacher suggested mediation where a psychologist was sought to attempt to solve the problem with the boys and attempt to restore the self-confidence and self-esteem that had damaged among several pupils, including me. My parents decided to take me to another school, focus more attention on my life at home as well as school, and improve communication with my teachers just to make sure that my self-esteem suffers no further damage in any way at all. Fortunately, the bullying did not take many tools on me as some of my classmates who had faced the wrath of such heinous acts for a long time and now I have overcome it completely.
Based on my experience of being a victim of bullying particularly in primary school, it is imperative both that teachers and parents to understand that approaches for addressing issues related to this vice do not just focus on curbing the act or behavior of bullying itself. On the contrary, they must ensure that the interventions pursued help children and young people who face such damaging experiences are all-around - address different needs of the victims, such as emotional, physical, and academic. This a holistic approach can help the victims of bullying to become resilient, to make them feel more confident and secure when they are young, and acquire skills that will help them to lay a firm foundation for adulthood.
Request Removal
If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the customtermpaperwriting.org website, please click below to request its removal:
