Parents Must Know, Bullying Behavior Can Be Triggered By Unpowered Feelings

Bullying behavior is not only an arena of superiority, but it is also triggered by a sense of helplessness due to the excessive dominance of parents towards children. (Freepic)

JAKARTA - The world of education in Indonesia has been highlighted again. However, again what is of concern is bullying. The sad fate experienced by a 2nd grader at Menanti Elementary School, Gresik. He is said to have experienced blindness after his eyes were poked at with a meatball stab by his seniors.

It was said that the victim's father, Samsul Arif (36), that the incident occurred because his son, whose initials were SAH, refused to give pocket money to the perpetrator. According to his family's confession, the victim was poked in the right eye with a meatball stab until he was injured in a hallway in the school while racing on August 17.

What is even more concerning, based on the student's confession after being questioned by the Gresik Police Child Protection Unit and Women, the victim admitted that his seniors often beat him. In fact, the burglary has occurred since he was in grade 1 elementary school.

There are many cases of bullying that occur in schools. And bullying cases include the most frequently discussed problems in the world of education, but have not shown a significant decline. According to the results of the Ministry of Education and Culture's national assessment, 24.4 percent of students or students have the potential to experience bullying incidents in educational or school units.

This was said by the Acting Secretary of the Directorate General of PAUD Dikdasmen Kemendikbudristek Praptono on Thursday, August 24.

"Kemendikbudristek with a national assessment yesterday, we got a very extraordinary finding figure, and this requires us to take it seriously. The first is 24.4 percent of students, based on their recognition they have the potential to experience bullying incidents in educational units," said Praptono.

What happened to SAH at SD Menanti, Gresik can be said that there are two types of bullying. The first is bullying and the second is when he was poked in the eye by a meatball stab for refusing to give pocket money to the perpetrator.

The public must be surprised why a child who is still at school dares to commit acts of violence. Although in reality, lately there have been quite frequent cases where a child commits actions beyond reason, as did the perpetrators.

In fact, many parents complain about juvenile delinquency, even though they should be the closest people. The cause of juvenile and child delinquency cannot be separated from their relationship with their parents. In addition, the friendship environment can also be one of the determining factors.

According to Clinical and Forensic Psychologist Kasandra Putranto, bullying is a complex behavior and can be caused by various interconnecting factors. Although the sense of superiority can be one of the motivations behind bullying behavior, it is not always so and there are many other factors that also play an important role.

"This condition can arise from their helplessness or insecurity which they compensate by demeaning others. In addition, it could be their effort to feel better by showing others' weaknesses," Kasandra told VOI.

If children often see or experience aggressive behavior at home or in their environment, they may tend to imitate this behavior. This can make them less sensitive to the emotional impact of their behavior, including the bad effects of bullying. Children may feel the need to bully in order to be accepted by their group or not to be targeted on their own," Kasandra continued.

On a different occasion, YARSI University Psychology lecturer, Melok Roro Kinanthi said permissive parenting also contributed to shaping aggressive behavior in children.

"In addition, permissive parenting by too pampering children without boundaries has the potential to cause maladaptive behavior including aggressiveness in ana," said Melok Roro Kinanthi.

Being a parent in today's era does have its own challenges due to technological advances. Without a doubt, technology is very close to life, including children. According to a national poll by Common Sense Media in 2019, 43% of children had smartphones at the age of 11.

However, technological developments are also allegedly taking part in the rise of delinquency in children and adolescents. When technological advances are not responded to wisely, it is not impossible to actually have a negative impact on children.

Parents need to control what content children can open. Do not let the content that should be opened by adults, such as for example violence, be easily accessible to children.

"With a lot of information available on the internet, it's difficult for parents to monitor what's exposed to their children, including inappropriate content or interactions with strangers," as quoted by Cerritos Collage.

Kasandra Putranto emphasized the importance of the role of parents to monitor children's activities with technology so that they can avoid negative behavior in the impact of technology.

"Parents also need to monitor their children's online activities, in order to help recognize indications or signs of cyberbullying or other negative behavior," said Kasandra.

"Parents' support during the child's growth and development period is absolutely necessary. Parents need to recognize their child's psychological profile from an early age, by building open communication, listening to them with full attention without judging or judging," said Kasandra again.