Bullies look just like everyone else, but they don’t act like everyone else.
Bullies enjoy hurting other people and making them do what they say.
The only way they know how to get what they want is by being cruel.
Bullies don’t always hurt you physically; they can bully you by hurting
your feelings.

A bully can make you feel like it’s your fault that they are picking on you,
even though this isn’t true.

Anyone can be a bully. It could be a boy or a girl, an individual
or a group of people. It could be an adult.

At some time in their lives, most people have hurt someone else,
without meaning to, by acting like a bully.
But some people act this way all the time.
Bullies never have a good reason for hurting other people.
Often they pick on anyone who they think is different from them.
Some bullies pick on people who are a different size from them,
or whose skin is a different colour. Some bullies will even pick on you
because of the clothes you are wearing. A bully can pick on you or leave
you out of games and groups.

People who bully others have probably been bullied themselves,
sometimes by other children. Sometimes their parents, or other adults
may have been cruel to them. This is very sad, but it is never a good
reason for being unkind to others.

Bullies don’t like themselves very much. This makes it hard for them to
like other people and treat them well.
The only way bullies can like themselves is to pick on others.
Doing this makes them feel more powerful.

We all need to feel loved. That is why being bullied hurts very much.
When someone is bullying you, it can make you feel scared or angry,
miserable or hurt.
You may find it difficult to sleep, or when you do fall asleep, you may
have nightmares.
You may not feel like eating. You may avoid going to school. You may try
to hide and avoid talking to people.

One of the hardest things to learn is how to deal with a bully without
becoming a bully yourself.
Hitting back or being cruel usually only makes the problem worse.
A good way to stop bullying is to talk to someone about it. This can be
a parent or a teacher or any grown-up you feel comfortable with.
You may not want to talk to anyone about it, but you should.
All bullies hope that their victims won’t tell on them. Keeping the problem
to yourself and not talking to others, and not seeking help, let’s a bully
know that it’s fine to go on hurting you.

Another way to stop bullies is to get help from people who love you.
Their love can help you feel good about yourself and reassure you
that it’s not your fault if you are being bullied.

Bullies only pick on people they know they can hurt.
Feeling good about yourself and liking yourself is probably the best way
to stop them.
Also, when you feel good about yourself, you do not need to bully others
to get what you want.

A) Vocabulary
Read the text carefully and underline or highlight the words you
do not know.
Look them up in a dictionary and write down their meaning.
Make sentences with these words.

B) Discussion Points
1. Do you know anyone who is a bully? What sort of things do they do?
2. Have you ever been bullied? How did it make you feel?
3. When someone bullies you, what should you do?
4. Can you think of different ways of dealing with a bully?
5. You can find bullies everywhere—in the school, in your family, in an office,
in the park, on the bus or the metro, in the post office, and in shops. Write or
speak about how you would help a person who is being bullied.
6. ‘Some bullies will pick on you . . .’
Substitute ‘pick’ with a word of your own.

C) A Rap Song

The Skin I’m In
The skin I’m in
The skin I’m in
I’m feeling happy
with the skin I’m in
I never think
about fat or thin
I’ve got no problem
With the skin I’m in.

Write a rap song of your own starting with the lines ‘Don’t bully me,
don’t bully me . . .’

Revised July 2020

Audio courtesy Tara Kriplani: