Damaging and painful: The effects of bullying on children and parents

“At one time, he didn’t want to go back to school and it was hard to get him to go. As a mother, it was really hurtful because I can’t be with him at school and there is only so much I can do. I would go into the school, but it was not just happening in school, even on the road he was being bullied.” These were the words of mother whose child was bullied from the time he entered secondary school in Georgetown.

As the mother spoke, I heard the pain in her voice. It is every parent’s wish to protect their children from pain and the inability to do so engenders feelings of helplessness. In addition, bullying is damaging.

“I was worried for him because I know how he stay, he is very emotional and very soft,” she continued. “If you talk to him hard, he would cry, he is not a child to stand up for himself.