We love hearing from fans of the Red Cross Youth site. The email below came to us from Cristin, who wrote to us about her experiences with bullying…
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Bullying happens, and it is a learned behaviour. Students in my classrooms bullied me. They were copying the behaviour of the teachers. People should say “sorry” and own up when they bully someone. Nobody is perfect—yes, you might get in trouble when you own up to your bullying. But lying about it is worse.
Once I accidentally bumped into a teacher and to “teach me a lesson” a teacher’s aid body-checked me and asked me how I liked it. I did apologize and said it was an accident when I bumped the teacher. I think the teacher’s aid bullied me by treating me this way.
Another teacher aid told me that when I got to high school, she would feed me my pills like a baby. I can feed myself!
I felt anxious and confused when teachers bullied me and when a teacher aid stamped her foot.
When I was little a school bus driver hit my face. Nothing happened to the driver.
One teacher put me in time out because I was cold and didn’t want to take my coat off. My nose started bleeding. At least he said he was sorry, but other teachers didn’t.
I don’t believe people in authority should be allowed to treat students this way. They should have to treat people the way they want to be treated, just the same as the students. Staff should follow a professional code of conduct. The school should hold them accountable. They shut their ears to bullying when teachers bully kids. They should be role models and show respect, care and love. They tell us not to bully but they do it themselves. We are helpless in schools.
Teachers and school staff can run and hide, students can’t.
It also hurts when you tell someone you were bullied and people don’t believe you, or when the person who bullied you lies about it to protect themselves from getting in trouble, or when other people lie for the bully. This isn’t fair. I had teachers say I’m lying when I’ve said I’ve been hurt. Teachers shouldn’t lie and say they didn’t see anything wrong happen when they did.
My brother got bullied when he was in school and the parents and school didn’t do anything about it. Bullying happens to other people, too, not just my brother.
I got a death threat from someone online and they said they want to hit me with a baseball bat. This is cyber bullying. I deleted my account.
Bullying isn’t healthy for the bully or for the victim. Bullies want power over their victims. We need to put an end to bullying, it makes everyone sad. It hurts badly. I believe we have the right to go to a secure and safe school. People should at least say “sorry.”
~Cristin
