'Bullying Must Be Addressed From Early Stage of Life', Expert Warns
- Parents, guardians and people in authority have been urged to ensure that bullying among children is nipped in the bud
- This call was made by an expert on fighting against bullying in schools and the workplace Marsha Nwanne
- According to the expert, children are likely to be affected by acts of bullying they suffered at a young age throughout their adult lives
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An expert has warned against ignoring the preventable signs of bullying in the early stage of children's life.
Marsha Nwanne, the founder of the Equality Development and Research Center (EDRC), a non-governmental organisation focused on the sole aim of ending bullying in workplaces, schools other key environments said bullying among children can have a ripple effect of their adult life.
Speaking at the 'Paint Bullies Away', an anti-bullying fun class for kids which was organised by EDRC in Abuja, Nwanne educated children on the dangers of bullying through painting.
Source: Original
Throwing more light on the activities planned for kids in Abuja, Nwanne said she decided to use painting as means of illustration because children are easily attracted to what they see.
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She warned that most of the mishaps in society can be reduced to the barest minimum should bullying be addressed from the early stage of life.
Her words:
”Kids are very visual in nature; they love to view, and that is exactly how they learn so when you ask a child to explain what he or she understands by bullying through what they see you have captured that information that you are looking for very clearly.
"Painting is a very creative way of indulging kids and having them learn as well as be entertained.
"I decided to go for kids because bullying is a cycle. It is a thing that does just start. It starts from childhood."
The cycle of bullying in a human's life
Reeling out the cycle of bullying and its possible trend in the lives of individuals, the expert said such acts start from the cradle and then metamorphose into adult life - in relationships, work, marriage and many more aspects of their lives and activities.
She said:
"They start as children, then workplace bullying and from there to relationships. It is something you learn and in future, it becomes a habit and the best way to communicate. But if you break that cycle in this stage then you would be able to make an impact.
"That is why we are trying to tackle bullying from every angle in order to get maximum results."
Parents and kids speak on acts of bullying in children
In his reaction, one of the parents, Damian Ogwu, who participated in the activity said that such a project would help in building a better and more united society.
His words:
"I like the idea of catching them young because one of the problems we have in our society is that people did not start early to impact the right ethics.
"This project is innovative in the sense that it is trying to teach the kids the right thing. Most of the ill-happenings in the country today is because they didn’t start this way, so catching them young, it would generate a better generation in future."
Similarly, one of the kids who also participated in the training exercise, Elliot Junior, admitted to learning that bullying makes most children uncomfortable.
Junior noted that acts of bullying can affect a child's performance academically.
He also noted that someone who is bullied should not retaliate but report such actions to elders who they trust can avoid a recurrence.
Junior's words:
“Most people enjoyed it because they have been bullied before while others do it without knowing that they are hurting others.
"So, one needs to report to elders or talk it out with them to stop reoccurrence."
Ever been bullied at work? Expert tells government officials what to do
Experts have cautioned Nigerians against tolerating workplace bullying in organisations and work environments.
The founder of the Equality Development and Research Centre (EDRC) warned that acts of bullying in the workplace can hinder the productivity of staff.
Marsha Nwanne-Umeh called for the enactment of laws that could mitigate workplace bullying within organisations across the country.
Cases of child abuse, bullying and killing in a school environment
Earlier in the year, there have been stories of young Nigerians, mostly children, who had suffered various attacks, prominent amongst them were Sylvester Omoroni, Hanifa Abubakar and Keren Happuch Akpagher, and so many others.
Sylvester died after he was allegedly bullied by some of his schools at Dowen College in the Lekki area of Lagos state.
In another incident, a 5-year-old girl, Hanifa Abubakar was killed by the proprietor of her school, Noble Kids Nursery and Primary School after he (the proprietor) had demanded N6 million as ransom from the child's parents.
Source: Legit.ng
