The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander

This post is a review of a book that I have just finish reading today. The title is "The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander - from preschool to high school - how parents and teachers can help break the cycle of violence", by Barbara Coloroso and is published by Piccadilly Press, London, 2003.

If you are not aware, thousands of children go to school each day filled with fear; sometimes they dread school to such an extent that they feign illness in order to avoid going to school. All these are results of the common occurance of bullying in schools. Bullying in schools has become so commonplace nowadays and is not restricted to a particular location or country - it occurs in US, UK, New Zealand, and even in the Asian countries, like Singapore!

As such, given the magnitude of the problem, author and educator Barbara Coloroso addressed this issue in the book.

The book is divided into two parts - Part One is dedicated to the discussion on the three main characters in the case of bullying. Part Two is an exploration on how the home, school and community have played a part in setting the stage for bullying to take place, and as such, how the three can come together to break the cycle and foster a safer and hamonious learning environment for all children to study in.

Be warned beforehand that one can be prepared to be chilled by the horrendous accounts of some of the cases of bullying narrated in the book. It is rather difficult to imagine that a child is capable of such acts of menace at such a young age to another person. What could have caused it to happen?

After reading the book, I find that it is indeed a grime situation that we are facing, and thus, to ensure that the children of today have a safer environment to grow up and study in, it is imperative for adults, especially those with the authority and responsibility, such as parents and teachers, to identify potential cases and solve them before they aggravate and avanlanche into problems with dire consequences which we would rather that they were stopped in the first place.

It is quite a good and informative (quite a number of statistics, tips and case studies are available) book for those who are interested in the topic, teachers in schools, and as well as those who have kids in school. You might not be aware that your kid has already become a victim of bullying, for most of the victims choose to remain silent about it. However, there are techniques in the book to help you to identify and solutions offered to rescue your child out of the situation before it is too late to do so.

Annie