Bullying has been going on since people set foot on this planet and people have been writing about bullying all the way back to Cain and Abel. So why does bullying still exist and continue to escalate?
Why has bullying escalated to a level that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] declared bullying a “significant health problem”?
Bullying exists and bullies exist in nearly every school, nearly every college and nearly every organization. Evidence is overwhelming and it is time to accept the facts and admit status quo bullying approaches are not working, are not solving and are not preventing bullying.
Why is bullying still in existence and why is bullying still escalating?
Because most anti-bullying and bully prevention programs are not solving bullying problems and not getting to the root of bullying issues at the individual level [aggressor, target, bystander, etc.]. Instead most programs and campaigns [see below] are focused on reactive approaches that do not solve multi-faceted bullying, social and behavior problems:
- Stop Bullying
- Stomp Out Bullying
- Fighting Bullying
- Kicking Bullying
- Waging War on Bullying
- Winning the War on Bullying
- And numerous others…
If these programs and campaigns were working, how could bullying become a nationwide “significant health problem”?
Shouldn’t we be solving bullying issues and helping children/students learn how to take proactive and proven actions to prevent bullying? YES! [After all, children are not born bullies, they learn to bully.]
SOLVING any problem [math, psychology, science, athletics, etc.] requires a process. SOLVING a multi-faceted problem like bullying requires a process that involves admitting a problem exists and then identifying incidents, assessing, investigating, intervening, monitoring, connecting the right dots, preventing recurring incidents and documenting to ensure actions and solutions can be utilized and updated on an ongoing basis as bullying, cyber bullying and numerous other incidents arise.
SOLVING a multi-faceted problem like bullying is NOT going to be solved by stopping, stomping, fighting, kicking, waging war, winning the war, etc.
SOLVING the bullying problem and proactively preventing bullying is possible and innovative leaders in schools, colleges and organizations are providing evidence that others can use to follow the leaders. If you would like to learn how innovative leaders are taking proactive steps to solve multi-faceted problems like bullying and others, click here.
