Bullying by Mrs. Nicole Menssen

Bullying is defined as a repeated pattern of intentional aggressive behavior when there is a power imbalance.

Bullying is not tolerated at John Hancock Charter School, and we have a school assembly teaching the kids to STOP – WALK – TALK when they are dealing with bullying behavior. Sometimes kids fail to recognize peer behavior as bullying–they just think the other kid is bossy, but if it is repeated and intentional, with the imbalance of power (i.e. the child gives in even when they don’t really want to), then it is bullying.

Examples of bullying behavior that may be confused for being bossy include:

• telling other kids what roles they have to play in a game
• asking a child to move so they can take their seat
• asking someone to “share” their lunch treats
• telling another student who they can or can’t play with

As stated before, because of the imbalance of power, the victim feels like they have to give in to the bully even if they don’t want to, and the bully doesn’t think they did anything wrong because the other person just did what they asked. After these types of situations, the further imbalance of power leaves the victim feeling dejected and un-empowered.

At JHCS, we teach our students to handle bullying behavior by learning to Stop – Walk – Talk

1. Stop – put your hand up and tell the person what they’re doing that you want them to stop. If they don’t, then…

2. Walk – walk away from the person and go do something else. If they follow you or continue their behavior toward you…

3. Talk – talk to a teacher or other adult about what’s going on.

We want to give tools they need to solve their own problems whenever possible. With this method, kids have two tries to resolve the problem on their own before asking an adult to intervene.

Here’s a great link with more information to help you as you talk to your child about handling bullies. http://www.parents.com/kids/problems/bullying/how-to-deal-with-school-bullies/