FOX4: Behaviors Behind Bullying

You might think about older children or even teenagers when you talk about kids being bullied. However, it is happening younger and younger, affecting kids as early as pre-school. One local 8-year-old is a prime example but has taken her experience and created something she hopes will help others. 

FOX4's Megan Dillard came to Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City's Crittenton Children's Center to learn more about behaviors behind bullying. 

“Being bullied is a traumatic experience because it does change your self-worth," said LeAnn Keck, manager of Crittenton Children's Center's TraumaSmart program. "It starts to make you question who you are and how you fit in.”

TraumaSmart's vision is to reduce the negative impact of trauma and violence in society by strengthening patterns of resilience among children and the adults who care for them. The goal is to provide practical solutions to parents, guardians, teachers, and organizations devoted to helping children overcome negative effects of trauma using data-driven and validated programs of care.

Going back to school can provide a lot of stress on children and can then turn into bullying behaviors once school starts. 

“There's a lot of pressure to be the best in everything, and so children feel that anxiety," Keck said. "They feel that pressure, and then they start to turn against their peers at times because they don't know how to deal with all those feelings.”

Watch Megan Dillard's story on FOX4 below.