What you should know about bullies (article)

What you should know about bullies:

1. Bullies come in all ages, sizes, races, religions, and in both genders.
2. Bullies use many tactics to threaten and harass people including, but not limited to, words and physical violence.

3. People who behave in openly hostile behavior, who threaten others to make themselves feel powerful, or who build themselves up by tearing others down are bullies.

4. Girls are more likely to bully with words while boys most often resort to physical attacks. For this reason bullying by girls is often ignored or not taken as seriously as bullying by boys. The reality is that both types of bullying are very serious.

5. Words can be just as harmful as physical violence and can cause lasting psychological damage to victims. The old adage, "Sticks and stones can break your bones but words will never hurt you!" is simply not true

6. Bullies often model what they see at home. Sometimes a bully is really crying out for help. Bullies often act out because they feel they have no control over their own lives; they bully in an attempt to take control. Telling an adult about a bully may end up helping BOTH of you.

7. Ignoring bullies does not make them stop. Only adult intervention and awareness can end the harassment. Bullies thrive on the reactions of their victims and ignoring them can make them step up their efforts. However, if you tell an adult and then start ignoring the bullying behavior the bully will tend to back off. Only start ignoring the behavior after you have made as many adults as possible aware of the problem.

8. As children grow in to teens bullying behaviors often escalate. Death threats, taunts urging suicide, group attacks, and violence with weapons can occur. This sort if behavior is criminal and should always be reported to the police as well as to school officials and parents.

Also:

* They like embarrassing or hurting people.
* They are often not confident people themselves, which is why they pick on others. They often are not happy people and have more problems than the people they pick on!

* They feel better about themselves if they can make others feel worse.

* Many experts believe that bullies have learned to bully because they have been bullied themselves in the past, maybe in their homes, outside or at school. (But even if you are bullied, you have a choice what to do - you don't have to turn into a bully).

* Some people join in or go along with the bullying of others to save themselves from being bullied.
* Bullies often work in groups, because it is easy for them to make excuses when they are caught [eg. "I didn't start it..." "I was just there..." "He [the victim] started it and I was just helping my friend".]

Bullying is only successful if people don't do anything about it.

Source -http://teenadvice.about.com ,http://www.cyh.com