It is tempting to think that bullying has been around since the first cave child tossed a rock at the cave child next door. Years ago, no adult seemed to care very much. Until recently, reports of bullying were shrugged off as "part of childhood", with some adults even advocating a bit of harsh treatment was good to toughen up a tender child.
But over the past 20 years, a new realisation has occurred: bullying should be treated as a real threat to children's happiness and development, whether the child is a bully or the target. The dozen or so suicides of young children each year attributed to bullying, the rise in self-harm and eating disorders, depression and social withdrawal are all indications of the cost of uninhibited aggression. The government's requirement of an anti-bullying policy in each school reinforces the emphasis of the negative effects of bullying.
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