HEY! I’M A BULLY!! I’M 10… SO WHAT?!

Since we started the new school year 2016-2017 we have heard of several cases of bullying. Unfortunately, this is not something to be surprised about, but there is something that is becoming alarming, and this is the decline in the age of the aggressors, and of the victims. When I started giving workshops and lectures on school violence in 2003, the age of the aggressors and the victims, was starting usually around 13-14 years, but in recent cases and since 2014, we find 9-11 year olds involved in very serious assaults, with fatal consequences. .

The last 5 best-known cases:

• Asad Khan, 11, committed suicide in his room at home in Yorkshire (England), in September.
• A 10 year old boy attempted suicide at his home in Paris (France) in September. His father has sued children aged 8, 9 and 10, identified as their aggressors.
• Kayden Culp, 10, and with special needs, which remains in induced coma in Texas (USA), having been sprinkled petrol and set on fire last October 2.
• Daniel Fitzpatrick, 13, in New York (USA), hanged himself in August leaving a letter in which he explained his inability to ask for help and nobody would listen ..
• Marcelino Perkins, 15, shoots himself in his institute in Santa Fe (Argentina) because he was victim of constant homophobic insults.