Bullying can be done by one person or a group of people. It can either be someone younger or older, including friends, boyfriends or girlfriends, brothers or sisters or extended family members. A person bullying can also be an older person, or someone in a position of power such as an adult, parent or relative.
Bystanders of bullying
Bullying involves more than the people who are bullied and those who do the bullying. Most kids report having witnessed bullying occurring. Bullying often continues because kids who are involved do not talk about it or seek help. This includes people who observe bullying – the bystanders.
A bystander is someone who sees the bullying or knows that it is happening to someone else.
Bystander graphic adapted from Erceg and Cross (2004). Friendly Schools and Families Project: Classroom Teaching & Learning, Handbook Level 5. Child Health Promotion Research Unit: Edith Cowan University, Western Australia.
Bystanders who are part of the bullying – those who encourage and support the person bullying or watch the bullying from the sidelines, but do nothing to intervene or help the person being bullied.
Bystander who are part of the solution – those who seek to stop the bullying, protest it, provide support to the target, or tell an adult.
We need more bystander who are part of the solution, including adults.
- A child might ask you, ‘If I am just watching the bullying and I am not involved, how can I be part of the issue?’
- The answer is: People bullying usually want attention. By paying attention to the person bullying you are giving them what they want and that encourages them to keep bullying.
What can bystanders do?
If a child sees another child being bullied, he or she could:
- ask a teacher or support person for help
- let the person doing the bullying know that what they are doing is wrong
- refuse to join in with his or her bullying and walk away
- support the child who is being bullied
- support friends and protect them from bullying by being there for them
