These statistics mean that 5.7 million children in America are either being bullied or are bullies themselves. Most of this bullying takes plaee in the school yard, on the school bus, or in areas of the school where there is the least supervision.

In the age group from ages 6 to 10, statistics show that 13 percent have been involved in some types of bullying. Young children are more aggressive in their bullying; kicking, hitting, and other acts of aggression are more common. As they get older they become more verbal in their bullying. Bullies in school love to make younger or weaker kids cry, and feel sorry for themselves.

Bullying in many cases makes the bully feel powerful over other kids. They take pride in being able to bully others, believing that it proves they are smarter and superior in strength. While resorting to more verbal attacks as the children get older, the damage that is caused by bullying does not lessen. The victim in most of the cases withdraws in embarrassment and humiliation from their peers. They feel like outcasts, with no one to turn to. It is such a hopeless situation that children will withdraw not only from their peers, but school work as well. Missed days at school and too many days of 'not feeling good' as excuses not to go to school and have to confront the bullies. A child who is being abused cannot think of anything else but the injustices that they have to endure.

There are many reasons for the rise in bullying; lack of parental guidance, peer pressure, drugs, alcohol, violence in the media and games, and the over all destruction of family values. Children who are from broken homes, and those with one parent families are the ones most likely to either suffer from bullying as victims or are bullies themselves. Children who have strong family ties, and good support systems are less likely to suffer from bullying than those without them. Opening the lines of communication between parents and their children can do a lot to reduce bullying.

There are some studies that have shown that children who come from broken homes harbor a lot of resentment, toward their fathers and mothers. Children act out those resentments on their peers in places in school where they are least likely to be caught. Children who become bullies usually pick on weaker children, unpopular children, or children of whom they are jealous of.

Summary

With bullying on the rise, and children suffering abuse in places with the least supervision it is time to tackle the problem by having monitors who can report bullying problems. In the school I went to, I was a volunteer monitor who walked areas and kept accounts of the children who were causing problems. This seemed to work and cut down the bullying but it still didn't stop it. School buses seem to be one of the favorite places for bullying to take place. That can be fixed by having volunteer monitors riding along with the drivers who are so preoccupied with driving that they have a hard time watching the road and children at the same time. Anonymous polls that asks children to name someone they know or have seen bullying someone is another good way to find out how bad the problem is in a particular school.

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