The Importance of Not Labeling Kids "Bullies" or "Victims"

In this blog I will discuss an online post found within the website “stopbullying.gov”, regarding the importance of not using bullying terms to label children. According to the stopbully.gov, “it is easy to call the kids who bully others ‘bullies’ and those who are targeted ‘victims’, but this may have unintended [negative] consequences.” When children are labeled according to bullying roles, it can “send the message that the child’s behavior cannot change.” In addition, bullying labels “fail to recognize the multiple roles children can play in different bullying situations,” and can “disregard other factors contributing to the [bullying] behavior, such as peer influence or school climate.”
           Since using bullying labels on children has a negative effect on the mindset of children, adults should do their best to refrain from using such labels, at least when in the presence of children. The online post does a great job of pointing out the inefficiency of using bullying labels. As the online post points out, it is important for researchers working on creating anti-bullying strategies to realize and keep in mind that some children alternate between occupying the role of a bully and occupying the role of a bullying victim, depending on the specific scenario. The online post also points out the importance of taking into consideration all the possible factors that can lead to the creation of a bullying scenario. By being mindful of all the factors that can possibly lead to the creation of a bullying scenario researchers may have an easier time determining the source of a specific bullying scenario, which I believe will facilitate the job of researchers who are working on creating and implementing effective anti-bullying strategies.
           Overall, this online post, points out the arbitrariness that exists within bullying. As the online post reminds us, not only can the definitions of “bullying,” “bullies,” and “victims” vary from person to person, the factors that lead to the creation of each bullying scenario can vary and are virtually infinite. Although the aforementioned realizations may be discouraging for researchers who believed in the existence of a perfect anti-bullying strategy capable of resolving all bullying scenarios, perhaps the realizations have also led to an inspiring new discovery. It may be that until now bullying researchers and investigators have failed to realize that discovering the source of bullying may be the most important step in creating effective anti-bullying strategies. If this is the case, then perhaps these realizations are a step in the right direction.