October in National Bullying Prevention Month, a time to focus
and raise awareness on bullying. During this month, many groups
across the country will release new resources, campaigns, and
efforts aimed at bringing awareness to the issue of bullying.
What is Bullying? Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior
among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived
power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential
to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as
making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically
or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
Bullying can also take place through technology, known as
cyberbullying. Examples of cyberbullying include mean text
messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social
networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites,
or fake profiles. There are many other types of aggressive
behavior that don’t fit the definition of bullying. This does
not mean that they are any less serious or