Ok. In review that title is a bit dramatic but I do think we should take bullying more seriously. 

Ok let's set the scene. I was bullied from the age of about 5 to when I was 11. But this story takes place when I was 11. I went to a mixed school meaning there were boys and girls in my class. I had no friends my own age and the only friend I had was a girl who was the year below me. This is the story of when I finally plucked up courage to tell my teacher I was being bullied. With some help from my mum. 

I had been bullied for most of my life. I had no friends in my class. Nothing. I didn't like my teacher as their favourite students in the class were the ones who were the main people who bullied me.

My teacher when I was 11 was Mr Havis. He was a huge show off but only infront of his class. He never showed off to the parents but always acted as if he was better than them. He always spoke to parents with his arms crossed and acted like he didn't care what they were saying to him. 

I don't recall if he was like this with the other teachers but he did give the impression that he was extremely self confident. I remember that I was a little alarmed at being in his class as he was a new teacher and I didn't know anything about him. 

He also seemed rather inexperienced. At my school all students were supposed to be taught French, but he couldn't speak French at all so he instead taught us Italian (no offence Italians) which I have never used in my life and barely remember any of. 

Anyway the day I decided to talk to Mr Havis about the bullying was quite late in the year. My mum had come into the school to speak with him about it. 

These kids would call me names, avoid playing with me, said that anything I touched had been infected with germs or sometimes even spat at me. I had endured this for a long time before this day.

When my mum arrived and spoke to the receptionist (who knew my mum by first name because of how many times she complained about the bullying to my previous teachers) the receptionist said that Mr Havis was unavailable and he was in a meeting for another ten minutes.

My mum and I decided to wait for him to finish. When he did he came over to the waiting area and spoke to my mum, asking what she wanted, his arms were crossed as usual. My mum explained the bullying and the kinds of things that my classmates were doing. This was the exchange when he asked me a question for the first time.

"And exactly which members of the class is it that's doing those things?" He asked me.

"Everyone does," I replied "I don't have any friends in the class."  

"Oh but it can't be everyone. You talk to Miguel sometimes."

"Because he's the only one who's nice to me when no one else is around."

Mr Havis then turned back to my mum and said that I was lying to her. That if my class were really acting like this then he would have seen it. He even went so far as to say that I was bullying my classmates instead. I will admit when I was younger I slapped a girl in the face because she wouldn't play with me, but that was several years before this and I had grown up from doing that. 

My mum couldn't believe that he was turning the whole thing onto me. She asked him the following question"so what are you going to do about it then?"

"Well we can look into it but unless I see it for myself there's nothing I can do" he replied.

"She doesn't even want to come into school most of the time. I have to force her to come into school. That's not right."

Unfortunately I don't remember Mr Havis' response to that but he never did anything about it. I was bullied throughout the year until I went to my new school just before I turned 12.

So what do I want you to take away from this.

People usually say that when you're being bullied at school, the best thing to do is to tell someone. While I told my mum everything some people don't so if you are being bullied, please tell your parents at least. Most people would then suggest you tell your teacher or a member of staff. In my case this did not help but that doesn't mean I don't think you should try it. For you it might work. In my case I stuck it out until I moved schools. I don't think that was the best approach.

What I think you should do is try and move schools if you can. If you are in a position where there is another school you can go to, please do it. I wish I could've told my younger self this in the past. 

If moving schools isn't an option keep talking to your parents about the bullies. If your parents keep on complaining to the school they'll have to do something eventually. If like me your teacher doesn't care, the number one thing I will suggest is take each day as it comes. Just tell yourself that tomorrow will be one less day you'll need to go through it. Eventually the time will come when you can leave and go to a new school and have a fresh start. I promise there is always a brighter day coming. It will get better and it won't always be like this.

And if you are currently bullying someone I beg you please stop. I genuinely don't think it makes you seem any better or any cooler than anyone else. I seriously think that whatever you are doing or saying to the person you are bullying can seriously hurt them. There have been tons of studies that have shown that people who have been bullied are more likely to develop mental health issues and eating disorders and it can affect their self confidence. 

Believe me that anxiety or depression is not something you would want to put someone through. So please stop bullying that person. It is not cool. It doesn't make you look tough. All you are going to do is give someone the constant bad memories of their school life because you ruined that experience for them.

And finally, please don't ever think you deserve to be bullied. No one deserves to be bullied. No matter who your parents are. Who you are. How much money you do or don't have. What clothes you wear. Whether you are disabled or not. YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE BULLIED. Never let anyone tell you different. You are a wonderful human who deserves love and respect and if someone isn't giving you that respect, they are the problem not you.