Hipótesis

Punishment in the normal sense of extracting a penalty for bullying can be effective. Bullying should never be allowed to pay, but all too often punish- ment involves the use of anger, aggression and humiliation – precisely what is not wanted. Aggressive punishment is more likely to be ineffective and may even encourage further bullying. By far the most effective punishment is to insist that the bully makes amends for the distress that has been caused. Exactly how this is best done will depend on the circumstances. However, it is important to try to achieve a balance between the distress caused and the reparation by the bully. There are a number of ways that a bully might make amends to a victim, for example:

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● a public apology;

● a private apology, face to face;

● an apology in writing;

● a gift or a special favour for the victim.

Care has to be taken that any contact between the bully and the victim is with the victim’s agreement and is closely supervised to make sure that it is suc- cessfully completed. This type of reparation by the bully is not an easy option. But it can be surprisingly effective and gets to the heart of the matter by show- ing that bullying is unacceptable, that it has a cost and should not be repeated.

Summary

The optimistic message of this chapter is that although bullying is a serious matter and bullies left untreated have a poor prognosis, there is a lot that can be done, provided that the problem is taken seriously and there is agreed and concerted action involving parents, teachers and children.

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