[dateline] -- Area parents are working together to figure out how to keep their children from being bullied -- and from being bullies.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, about 31 percent of Ohio teenagers report being bullied on school grounds and the majority of those students are in the 9th and 10th grades.
One in every five children -- or 20 percent -- admit to being a bully, and the most feared place in a school for bullying is the bathroom, NBC 4’s Ana Jackson reported.
Experts say bullying starts in preschool and it happens nearly every day in nearly every school. Bullying can lead to depression, eating disorders and suicide.
Most people picture bullying as a physical fight, but 8-year-old Brinley Zieg knows it can be much more subtle.
“They call each other names and push each other around,” Zieg said.
She admits she’s been a target of emotional bullying at school.
“I tell the teachers a lot and don’t tell mom that much,” she said.
Zieg’s mother and dozens of other parents had a lot to learn about bullying from author Trudy Ludwig at a seminar on Wednesday night. Ludwig said that nine of every ten elementary students are bullied by their peers.
“This behavior is normalized in society, but it’s not healthy. We have to help kids have better friendships,” Ludwig said.
Ludwig teaches that targets must report bullying to an adult and adults must take the issue seriously.
“The child doing the bullying has to have escalating consequences to stop doing it,” Ludwig said.
Zeig’s mother, Diane, said she knows the fight against bullying will be challenging, but her family has learned valuable lessons.
“(I’ve learned) what to tell my kids and to teach them to stand up to people to put an end to bullying if they are being bullied,” she said.
In 2006, the Ohio Department of Education mandated an anti-bullying policy for school districts. It sets up guidelines for investigative and disciplinary procedures and requires school districts to report all acts of bullying twice a year.
The U.S. Department of Justice also said a child is bullied every seven minutes and 85 percent of the time, there is no intervention.
Stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com for additional information.
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