Childhood bullying can have lasting harmful effects on kids, lowering their self-esteem and causing some to become suicidal when left unchecked. It’s crucially important for parents, teachers, and other adults to get involved and fight back when it comes to children being bullied.
Bullies have a tendency to pick on children who have deformities or disabilities. Sometimes the bullies themselves have their own, similar issues and tease others so as to feel better about themselves. Whatever the case may be, bullying and teasing needs to stop.
Statistics show that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 U.S. students say they have been bullied at school. School authorities are one group who can help with these situations by steering parents in the right direction when it comes to kids dealing with bullying based on their appearance. Having a cleft lip or multiple teeth in one place does not justify being made fun of by other kids. But it happens -- and all the time.
This sort of thing can leave a child unable to concentrate on their school work because they’re too worried about how others view them. The sad truth is that most students with deformities have few friends, or no friends at all.
Through no fault of their own some children are subject to stares and looks of disgust simply because of their deformities. Changing Faces is one national organization that aims to help bullied children with their self-esteem by providing resources to schools that explain how, deformity or not, these kids are every bit as normal as everyone else.
Other children learn how it’s simply not okay to bully someone who has a health condition, with Changing Faces lobbying hard to promote tolerance and the understanding that it’s perfectly fine for kids to make friends with students living with disabilities.
Girls tend to be at the forefront of body shaming. Whether it’s by another girl or a boy the bottom line is that it’s profoundly unacceptable. The makers of the iconic soap, Dove, recently sponsored an anti-bullying campaign with the aim of helping young girls (and boys) boost their confidence regardless of how they look. The campaign explained how body shaming is wrong and how victims can best handle these unfortunate situations.
Ideally, bullied children should tell a trusted adult about what’s going on in their world instead of withdrawing in general, which is so often the case. The sooner an adult knows what the child is going through, the faster the situation can be addressed. If the bully is female, chances are she has some of her own self-esteem issues going on.
The Dove campaign also delved into what makes female bullies different from the male variety. Since it can be subtle and not always so easy to identify, their teasing is often of a psychological nature. When there are bruises, however, the child is more likely being victimized by a boy, or group of boys. Usually, when bruises are spotted, the situation can be handled quickly.
Female bullies tend to operate by, for example, spreading malicious rumours about the victim, or purposely ignoring them, with nobody wanting to sit beside them in the cafeteria or classroom. Some girls are mean enough to record a peer doing something embarrassing and put it on social media for everyone to see. When this happens, parents need to take action immediately.
There are certain cosmetic procedures parents can seek for their children that will improve their appearance; cleft palate surgery, cosmetic dentistry, and otoplasty being but a few examples. If your daughter is being made fun of because her breasts are notably larger than those of her peers, there is breast reduction surgery.
Of course, not all parents are eager for their children to go under the knife just to stop other children from teasing them. Which is certainly fair enough. However, if parents want to avoid seeing their child in a perpetually depressed state, certain cosmetic procedures are worthy of consideration, as they just might be the thing to improve their suffering child’s life forever.
Addressing their deformity while they’re still young will boost a child’s confidence long-term and correct their negative body image. In other words, their children won’t spend the rest of their school years walking around with their heads down because their body image is so poor.
Statistics show that when interventions are conducted early enough, students refrain from bullying tactics and kids with deformities/disabilities are no longer regularly attacked. Consequently, it’s important for schools to implement zero tolerance policies when it comes to bullying. Open communication is critical in these situations.
The child suicide rate wouldn’t be at an all-time high if kids could just feel more comfortable about letting adults know what’s going on when they’re being bullied. More than a few teenage school shooters have expressed how they were bullied and made fun of before going on their respective murder rampages.
As parents, it’s important that our children feel comfortable enough to come forward and let us know what’s happening to them. If they’re being bullied, their school must be notified immediately. Disabled children and those with deformities deserve and need to be safe. If we all work together to better identify and remedy these bullying situations, such a thing just might be possible.
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