Bullying Archives - The Less-Refined Mind

The Label I Cannot Stand Being Thrown Around Like Confetti

Nov 6, 2018

As a rule, I try these days to spend most of my time in a bubble of positivity. I don’t want drama in my life and I’ve taken great steps to remove it where necessary. I will cut people out of my life, no matter who they are, if they bring nothing but stress or misery. That may sound harsh but it’s not something I do lightly; it’s a painful ...

Bullying, Family and Parenting

How to Prevent and Resolve Bullying

Jun 27, 2016

If you’ve been following my series about bullying then I hope, like me, you’ll feel you’ve learned a little about the complex issue of bullying – even if it’s only to attempt to take a step back and view the situation with some objectivity and perspective. I’ve been a victim of bullying myself in the past; many times in fact. In school, ...

Bullying, Family and Parenting

What Makes a Bully?

Jun 20, 2016

This is my penultimate bullying post, and I feel I’ve learned a lot from the last few weeks – I hope you have to. We’ve heard from a former bully and an expert in the field of children. Both have fascinated me and given me food for thought – specifically in terms of perception, which I wrote about last week. But ...

Bullying, Opinion

Friend or Faux: Should You Ditch Your Cliquey ‘Friends’?

Jun 13, 2016

Over the last few weeks we’ve talked about bullying in children and how childhood experience can shape us as adults, both in our interactions with others and also as parents. In this post I’ll be examining some of my own experiences in the hope of making sense of them, talking specifically about toxic friendships – and more generally ...

Bullying

Youth Expert Sarah Newton on Bullying

Jun 6, 2016

I met Sarah a couple of months ago at a very exciting event I attended in London (which you can read more about here). Sarah really knows her stuff about our younger generations, and is clearly very switched on about people in general. Having already started to think about writing this mini series, I immediately saw a fantastic opportunity to ...

Bullying, Lifestyle

Guest Post: Was I Bullying Him? Yes

May 30, 2016

Why do people bully? In the hope of gaining some understanding of the elusive answer, I recently asked for a brave volunteer to admit to having been a bully at school, and to step up and allow me to interview them. I repeatedly asked across my social media channels. But not a soul came forward. Wow, I thought to myself, our entire generation ...

Ask Me Anything, Bullying

“How Can We Protect Our Children from Bullying?”

May 23, 2016

With this new series, my intention is to help foster and nurture an open and profound bond between father and daughter, one that transcends the awkwardness of puberty. (I wrote about it in more detail here.) And in that spirit, I’ve agreed that once a week I will answer – honestly – any question my husband puts to me. This week, hubby’s ...

Bullying, Opinion, Pregnancy and Newborns

Passive Pregnancy Discrimination

Jul 31, 2015

As I write, it’s been in the news as recently as this week that maternity discrimination is a huge problem in Britain. Sadly, pregnancy discrimination appears to be equally rife. In the year 2015, when legislation has been implemented to prevent either from occurring, this is not only ridiculous and unpalatable – it’s also ...

Bullying, Opinion

Judge, Jury, and Judas

Jul 10, 2015

In the very first days after my daughter was born, I clearly recall saying that a lovely and entirely unexpected byproduct of becoming a mum was the network of women which immediately sprang up around me. A friend described it perfectly – ‘it’s like we’ve joined a secret club’. In those first magical and bewildering days, there is truly ...