Words can be potent. They can strengthen or they can wound. They can make someone hysterical with laughter or reduce them to tears. Spoken bullying can degrade a usually self-assured individual, and cause them to be powerless in their effort to appear unmoved.

In any public or close-minded school within America, there are thousands of students who are verbal bullies. Their ways of hurting others include racial and sexual comments of an insulting nature. This is an everyday occurrence in schools which very little is being done about and this particular type of mistreatment can spiral upwards to more damaging methods such as bodily abuse.

Can you remember an occasion as a child when a bully called you something cruel and upsetting? Do you recall how you felt as a result of this? Did the bullies humiliate you in front of your acquaintances? These acts of verbal bullying are by-products of a home setting where language is used to put down and hurt. Kids do not just unexpectedly come to a decision to use a racial insult. It has to be created from somewhere and research indicates that is comes from within the home.

There is one middle school in New York City with a population of nine hundred students, between them speaking 35 different languages. Imagine the effect that name calling has on the people who have emigrated in order to obtain a quality education, when they are laughed at by verbal pestering and pressure from other students. They are unaware of the culture already active within the school itself. It is a culture full of kids who are abused at home, annoyed at the world, sometimes having to fend for themselves due to the fact that both parents are out working, or else they are known to be latch key kids who either live with one parent, a grandparent or a guardian. They are determined to hurt others to make themselves feel more dominant and in control, because the school situation is the only place where they can.

Verbal bullying is frequently carried out without much thought being given. Words just pour out with no consideration for the person being victimized. Verbal harassment and pressure can be more overwhelming than physical abuse in that it hits at the heart of the individual's deepest view about him or herself. It leaves long-lasting scars that, in some instances, can never be repaired.

Verbal bullying is a sinister and revolting show of unawareness by those who use it. Whilst studies show that verbal harassment may be imposed by those who themselves are the bearers of low self-esteem, it is fairly difficult to overlook this verbal intimidation - even though it seems the bully may have his or her own issues to deal with about self confidence.

Take just one moment to think about this scenario. Have you recently shouted out at another driver who overtook you at racing speed when you did not consider it safe for him or her to do so? In yelling, did you use language which could be construed as abusive? Is this not a form of bullying? Here's another question for you to ask yourself - was your child in the car with you at the time of the incident? If so, was this the foundation for the child to accept bullying as the norm? This underlines the fact that verbal abuse starts in the home, where consciously or not children learn and copy what they see and hear. Maybe it is, therefore, time to take another look at why children use verbal bullying themselves and what we can do to eliminate this sort of behaviour.

Copyright By Mandy-Jane Clarke

Stop-Bullies.com