Why Do Children Bully?

There are many reason why children become bullies. In order to stop the bullying cycle you have to find out the reasons behind a bully actions. If you can understand why a child is acting in a certain way you can give them the tools they need to function in a different a and acceptable manner.

Bullies often see violence, or forms of verbal abuse in the home. They may feel that communicating in this was is perfectly normal. They are simply acting out anger and frustration in the same way other members of their family do. Teaching the child ways to communicate these feelings without bullying will go al long way to ending the cycle.

Bullies sometimes act out of fear. They are trying not to show their own inabilities. They do not want other children to become more popular, or to do better them. They try to make the other child feel self conscious, humiliated or embarrassed. By devaluating others they hope to show their own self worth in these eyes of their peers. Bullies often are popular children who believe that they have to maintain their status by lowering others.

Children sometimes bully others who are different from themselves. The bully may target children who may have different religious beliefs, or a different culture. Some of these beliefs may come from the home, and some of just of fear or lack of understanding about something that this different or alien.

Some children become bullies because they want attention. They find that any attention is better than none. They like the feeling of being in control and of having power over others. Some children do not even realise how much their behaviour is affecting others. They may see it is being cool. These children need to learn how to sympathise with others.

When dealing with any kind of bully it is very important to get to the root of the bullies behaviour. Their behaviour often continues into adulthood, if it is not addressed. Children who become bullies are more likely to get into crime, do drugs, or become alcoholics. If children are given the correct tools they can overcome their problems and stop bulling others.