Is It Bullying?

#1 John, who is large for his age, makes a habit of following Steve and asking Steve to choose him for the team. Steve says no each time, but John persists. Finally, John grabs hold of Steve’s shirt as Steve is walking away. Steve turns around and punches John, and John gets mad. They get into a fistfight from which Steve walks away and John lies on the ground holding his stomach. This is the third fight between them this month that has ended this way.

#2 Mina, one of the “in-crowd,” has been spreading rumors about Janine around school. Mina even posted the rumors are her Facebook page. Janine is now spending her lunch periods alone.

#3 Sean and Julio are the same age and size. Sean pushes Julio in the hallway.

#4 Annie continually texts Adrianne during the day at school and at night with messages that say things like, “U better watch school.”

#5 Danielle and Maria have gone to school together since kindergarten. One day last week, Maria called Danielle a name.

#6 Brandon, an eighth grader, punches Zack, a sixth grader, in the arm every time he sees Zack in the hallway. Zack tries to figure out ways to avoid Brandon when he is walking to math.

#7 Damon and Sam are seventh graders who end up wrestling on the school grounds every day.

#8 Tanisha, a tall seventh grader, accidentally bumped into Callie, a very short sixth grader, and knocked Callie down.

#9 Max and his friends make a game out of tormenting Felicia. Now Max tells Felicia that he wants to meet her at the social Friday night and then go out to pizza afterwards. However, Max doesn’t plan on showing up for the social. Max texts all his friends to tell them to laugh at Felicia when she arrives at the social or if she asks about him.

#10 Jonah and Aaron are in the same SSR class. Every day they try to steal each one another’s baseball hats.

Bullying Survival Tips Ignore the bully and walk away. Hold the anger. Don't get physical. Practice confidence. Take charge of your life. Talk about it. Find your (true) friends.

Cyberbullying "Cyberbullying" is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. Once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyber-harassment or cyberstalking. Adult cyber-harassment or cyberstalking is NEVER called cyberbullying.