Morning pumpkins! Another Sprouter needs your help, tips and advice…

Hey Aunty Sprout, I am kind of getting bullied by some boys and I want you to give me some advice but I don’t want to tell my mum and dad.

Well Sprouters, it’s over to you. If you have any advice to offer, please leave your comments below (it’s free and quick to comment but we recommend keeping posts Sprouty and anonymous!).

Here are some comments already made:

Aunty Sprout: Salutations! I’m trying to encourage the next generation of agony aunts to come through but I’d also like to encourage you to contact Meic and/or Cardiff Against Bullying (the links are below).

Also, you may want to have a flick through some of the previous bullying-related articles and our Info page…

Meic: Hi, this is Meic, we are the national information, advice and advocacy helpline for children and young people in Wales aged 25 and under.

It’s really good that you have come to Aunty Sprout for help; getting help is the first step to getting something like bullying stopped.

It can be hard to tell the people closest to us about things like this, and sometimes young people do feel they may not want their mum and dad to find out. It may be a good idea to think about how your mum and dad have supported you in the past and think about how they could support you with the bullying you are experiencing, if you did eventually decide to get them involved.

Another thing you could think about is who else you feel could support you to get the bullying stopped, maybe someone in your school, a close friend or teacher you trust.

At Meic, we are here to listen and to help you out as much as we can, we can also tell you about other services and organisations that could help you further.

If you like, you could contact us between 8am and midnight and we could talk about this some more. There are a few ways to contact us:

• Phone – 080880 23456
• Text – 84001
• Instant message – www.meic.cymru
• Email – help@meic.cymru

Miss_Survivoroxoxo: Don’t stand for it. Whatever you do, don’t let them continue. Put an end to it now.

If you’re mouthy like me, then stick up for yourself. Say: “No. Don’t you DARE bully me. What gives you any right to bully me? I wasn’t born purely for you to put me down. Back off now or I will take further action.”

Not many people are like me, so this is what I suggest for the people with not so much gob on them. Talk to someone you trust. In my school, I found the teachers weren’t the best to tell, but it might be different for you. If you have one teacher you trust, tell them. If not, tell someone you trust. Whether it’s a youth worker, parent, older sibling, a neighbour, tell them. They won’t know what’s happening until you tell them.

Make sure they go to someone with a lot of power in your school (Head of year, Deputy, the Head, whoever) and make it clear that your not happy and you’re afraid. If they don’t do enough, keep on an on at them until something gets done. They don’t like being nagged, but that’s the only way you’ll get the message through to them.

Don’t forget to speak to Meic. They’re open from 8am to midnight and can advise you what to do and how to go about things.

I hope you get this sorted out and I hope the boys realize how pathetic they are.

-Miss_Survivoroxoxo

Liz_R: Hi,

You are not alone. Bullying happens in every school, to all sorts of different people for many different reasons.

The most important thing you can do first of all is to tell someone you trust. This could be a friend, a family member, teacher or another adult, and try to find a time when they are by themselves and you can talk confidentially for as long as you need. Please don’t keep it to yourself – it is important that you can confide in someone about your feelings. You might feel angry, upset or scared or all of these and more and keeping our feelings bottled up can cause us to feel lonely, isolated and more unhappy.

Until things are resolved, try to keep yourself safe by staying with others – friends, classmates or adults if you can – at the times when the bullying happens. Try not to react until afterwards when you are somewhere you feel safe and comfortable then share your feelings. Walk away if you can and find someone to speak to.

Are there reasons why you don’t want to tell your parents? If you don’t want to worry them, maybe you could speak to a teacher and ask them to invite your parents into school so that you can talk about it together with the teacher there. If you don’t want to tell your mum and dad for the moment, you can ask for an appointment with the school counsellor.

You can also search for Cyber Mentors online and they can support you. You can also contact Meic or Childline if you want to talk to someone or phone Cardiff Against Bullying (you don’t need to ask for anyone in particular as anyone in the office can help).

Article originally written by Aunty Sprout on 29/02/2012. Republished as part of Anti-Bullying Week 2016. Meic’s comment was last updated on 7th November 2016.

If you have a problem or question that you would like some advice on, why not share it with TheSprout community? Here’s what’s been asked before on the new Sprout and here’s the Aunty Sprout archive on the old site.

Your entry will be posted anonymously, as we’ll change the name on it. Also, remember to have a look at the Info section. You can of course always contact Meic directly – www.meic.cymru.

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