Types of Non-Physical Bullying
Bullying doesn't always result in stolen possessions or black eyes, but kids can feel terrorized and bear emotional and psychological scars just the same. Today's bullies invoke a number of tactics, including teasing and name calling, excluding a child from peer play or activities, intimidating with threats. Kids are even bullied online, by any of the aforementioned means.
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Teasing
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When a child is picked on because he is short, tall, overweight, skinny or for any other physical characteristic, it's bullying. He might be called names that relate to a visible characteristic. A child who wears glasses, for example, might be called "Four Eyes." Teasing can also include mimicking the actions or speech of the bullied child. Kids can also be teased about differences in their ethnic or cultural background, for having a funny-sounding name or for having parents or other family members who are different in some way. Kids today can also be teased for being gay or being for or against something that goes against the more traditional point of view in their peer group.
Excluding
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Some cultures "punish" members of the community who disobey the society's rules or standards with a practice called "shunning." Kids who bully understand this power of acceptance into or exclusion the group and practice it by excluding those who they wish to isolate. This form of bullying can take the form of being completely ignored by the bully or bullies in conversation as if the child wasn't there, or flaunting games or invitations that clearly don't include the bullied child. Exclusion is a form of bullying that is often perpetrated by groups of kids, some of whom might not practice "bullying" in any other instances.
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Threatening
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Bullies might not actually hit or physically harm their victim, but they often threaten to do so. Bullies might start rumors that they are going to "beat up" a child or send that child an anonymous note or letter using threatening language. The bully might harass a child with offensive gestures that indicate what will happen if the child doesn't do as the bully wishes. This sort of intimidation can be harder on the victim that actual physical violence, since the threat of violence is an ever-present but unfulfilled possibility, causing anxiety and stress.
Cyber-Bullying
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Kids today sometimes have unsupervised access to cell phones and computers, leaving the door open for bullies to harass their victims by text and phone messages and through email and social network sites online. As with bullies who threaten or tease, online bullies could use these avenues for creating and spreading untrue rumors about a child, or spreading private information or photos. Cyber-bullying can have long term effects on the child who is bullied, since information published online becomes public and may remain in the public domain for years after the bullying has been resolved.
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