*What are your thoughts on school bullying? How would you address it? If you have children, what would be your best advice for your child if they were to become a victim of bullying, and what would you do?
I have tasted what it means to be bullied, I was bullied because I was the tiniest, and smallest in size in class, I was bullied because I was too quiet, I was bullied because I looked older than every one in my class, I was bullied because at my age and class, like every other young girl, I was yet to develop a frontal lobe that made me look like a girl, I was nicknamed "chewing stick" by my bullies and they all happened at every interval and phase of my life and school and yeah, it affected my self-esteem so badly.
When we had enter house sport and we needed to change into our sports wear, I was always the last to change and always wore double clothes to avoid bringing attention to myself, I couldn't tell my parents because I knew they wouldn't do anything.
I remember when I could not take it anymore, and so I fought, it has never been in my nature but I guess that day, I wasn't in the mood to cower and feel ashamed, so I fought inside the classroom till I lost my strength. Our class teacher who saw all that happened came to the rescue, punished the offenders but warned me never to fight again but instead walk away because it could lead to a disastrous situation.
If for any reason my child is found in such a situation, I would tell him or her to speak up immediately, don't wait until it gets to the extent you have to fight back, and if I come across such a child, I won't only be speaking with him or her to deter bullying my child, I would retaliate and warn them to stay off my child.
My parents didn't see any need to protect me because they felt it was just children being children, even when I reported a teacher who always singled me out and spoke harshly to me, they never saw it as a big deal, they felt it was a teacher correcting a student for her wrongdoings but then, the words she always said during those times were stamped into my brain and it affected me.
If they didn't see the need to talk to the teacher about speaking to me with demeaning words, they also didn't see the need to protect me from my peers, I was meant to handle it myself, and finally, I did. If my child informs me about a bully, I would first ask my child to report to their teacher when the bully bullies him again, but if nothing is done, I would do the reporting to the school authorities myself, and then go ahead to inform their parents and if it persists, I am going to handle it myself, I won't wait for it to get out of hand, I won't wait till my kids start hating school or going to school because of a bully.
I detest bullies, once I notice a bully, I start looking for ways to give them a pill if their medicine because many of them do not know how it feels to be bullied until they are also bullied.
This is my entry to Ladies of Hive Community Contest #286
Thank you for reading my blog
All images are mine