Reading and Responding to Children’s Books About Bullying

Which of the following scenarios is an example of bullying? A. Older boys repeatedly steal a second-grader’s lunch money. B. A group of girls start and perpetuate vicious rumours about a shy classmate.C. On a daily basis, a boy makes fun of a peer’s old-fashioned clothes. D. During recess, bigger kids push, shove, and taunt smaller children.E. All of the above. If you guessed E, you not only know a lot about test construction, you also understand the classic definition of bullying: “Bullying is a deliberate attempt to hurt another that is repeated over time,” (Craig, 1997, p. 123). Each scenario above contains a truth about bullying: bullies tend to be older and/or bigger than their victims; bullying involves both physical and verbal abuse; victims are usually different in some way from their peers, whether it involves dress, size, language, or social skills; and bullying occurs most frequently on the playground or in isolated locations where there is no adult supervision (Craig, 1997; Olweus, 1993)