Earlier this month I received a letter from a boy. In the letter, the writer asked me why we spend so much time talking about bullying yet always talk about bullying from the bully’s or the victim’s perspective. We give advice on how to react to bullying and encourage people not to be bullies themselves. What we don’t do though, is spend enough time talking about witnesses to bullying and that is what the writer was wanting help with. Simply put – if we are ourselves witnesses or bystanders to bullying or behaviour that hurts someone else, what do we do? Or put another way, when is “fun” and “teasing” not so much fun anymore and what do we do?
