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33 People Share What Prompted Others To Bully Them As Kids, And The Reasons Might Baffle You
Interview With Expert
I always thought bullying only happened on screen in the movies and TV shows that we watch. Then I saw it happen right before my eyes in school, where a bunch of boys were smacking my classmate’s head just for bringing a smelly sandwich for lunch.
That’s the thing about bullying: the culprits don’t even need a sensible reason and the herd mentality can make everyone gang up against the poor victim. When Reddit user likeistoleyourbike asked, “What’s the most ridiculous thing you were bullied over, and what prompted the bullying?” netizens gushed over with these answers!
More info: Reddit
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#1
I have a cat without a whole tail, yea they made fun of me cus of my cat. Life can be weird.
RELATED:
#3
Littering. They bullied me for complaining about their littering.
OzzyTheMano (They/Them) 8 months ago
if it makes you feel better, they're pieces of trash that always need to be picked up after
According to the National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice and the CDC, 20% of students between the ages of 12-18 experience bullying at some point in their lives. Sadly, it has also been observed that since the pandemic, there has been a rise in bullying.
As you scroll through the list, you will realize that the reasons for people getting bullied as kids are so trivial or sometimes, quite tragic, that it will make you question the mental health of the bullies. To get a deeper insight into the matter, Bored Panda reached out to teacher and principal Jyoti D., who has been in the teaching profession for the past 21 years.
She claims that kids bully for a variety of reasons, often stemming from their own insecurities, environment, or learned behaviors.
#5
I jumped over the legs of the prep clique while they were blocking the path. This caused a pad to fall out of my pocket. They told everyone. We were all female middle schoolers.
Ellinor 8 months ago
I was bullied by my whole class when I was 11, and one day a boy took my bag and emptied it on the floor. He saw a small pouch and open it to reveal my pads and he and everyone laughed at me. Normally I would stay quiet but not this time, I told him that yes I had periods but so did his mother, his sisters, and all the girls in the class that he was friends with. He stopped laughing so I took back all my stuff and left. (and I think it's that day that I became a feminist)
#6
That you can't see my upper eye lids easily when my eyes are open. They just get kinda shoved under my eyebrows and hidden out of the way. I was called a freak and a mutant. For having hooded eyes.
I don't even.
Learner Panda 8 months ago
Mine are the same. I don't bother a lot with makeup and I can't afford a forehead lift to rectify them.
Jyoti narrated, "After witnessing a lot of bullying instances throughout my experience as a teacher, I can say one thing for sure that parents often get blamed for their child's actions, but it's not always on them. Movies, TV shows, and now, social media, play a massive role in affecting young minds as well."
In fact, she explained that even when a kid has amazing parents who have done a brilliant job disciplining them, social media has the power to discard everything they have learned. She also believes that constant exposure to toxic comments, trolling, and online fights normalizes aggressive behavior, and kids may mimic what they see online, thinking it’s acceptable to insult or attack others.
#8
One time in 3rd grade I farted really loud during silent reading time. Some kid nicknamed me Fartacus, and it stuck for the rest of elementary school.
#9
Being fat. I’m 34 and still fat, but now they are also fat. So f**k them.
Our expert stressed that there could be many reasons why kids resort to bullying and find nothing wrong with doing it. "Some kids enjoy feeling dominant over others, especially if they feel powerless in other areas of their life. They may bully to fit in, impress friends, or maintain a sense of superiority in their social group," she added.
Unfortunately, Jyoti also noted that some kids bully because they find it entertaining or simply have nothing better to do. This probably explains why they harass kids over the most ridiculous reasons which don't even make sense when you really look at the reasons in this list itself.
#10
I was bullied by girls because i prefered dj snake more than bts,so they started calling me gay and you have poor choice of music i prefered to stay away because lack of tste is a symptom of covid.
#11
Got bullied for being fat AFTER I lost 16kg over the summer. At the time I was 5'4 and 59kg, definitely not fat and the kids who bullied me all weighed more than me. Also got called a s**t for not having had a bf yet when I was 15. My classmates were dumb.
OzzyTheMano (They/Them) 8 months ago
man if you put all their IQ together it would still be less than room temp
#12
Because I was listening to music in a school break, like literally. I can't listen to music??
"The horrific truth is that bullying and cyberbullying are becoming a sort of a trend, as youngsters like to say these days. They may laugh at someone’s pain, embarrassment, or anger, treating it as a joke or a game. This is often seen in prank culture, where kids humiliate others and record it for laughs or social media views," Jyoti expressed.
She emphasized the importance of teaching emotional intelligence from a young age and talking with kids about empathy and the consequences of their actions. She stressed that parents and teachers should show kids real-life examples of how bullying affects people long-term. She added that they should also reduce children's exposure to harmful online cultures that glorify bullying.
#13
I lived in a house with well water that would stain everything orange from the iron. I am blonde. It made my hair darker. One time I had my hair washed and cut at the salon and my hair was much lighter, I assume because the stain was washed away using good water. I went to school the next day and a bunch of girls bullied me because I "bleached" my hair and I was "fake". I was also then accused of stuffing my bra because I had a C cup at 13 years old.
Looking back at my middle school pictures, I realize that I was being bullied because I was very pretty. So f**k those bitches.
SweetCheesySpaghetti 8 months ago
I feel like you and I would have gotten along well. I went from flat chest in 5th grade to c cup in 6th grade. Everyone called me Kleenex. I slept with braids in my hair and they called me Brillo, and said my mom couldn't afford a proper perm so I got a cheap perm and it fried my hair. I never wore braids to bed again. They would find anything to pick on me about. Looking back, I was gorgeous, and I wish I'd known it then.
#14
Being respectful to the bully's dad. He started bullying me after that, when I stood up for myself he said 'I know I can't take you in a fight so I'll just stab you!' and showed me the knife.
#15
Strawberry cream cheese on my bagel. 2nd or 3rd grade. Even at that age I was baffled.
Well, our expert's insights definitely shed light on why young kids behave in such a way and why it's increasing into a concerning social evil. Speaking of how social media can have an impact on young minds, the Netflix series Adolescence was a big eye-opener. It's honestly horrifying to think of how these issues will keep rising if they are not curbed by society.
What are your thoughts about it? Also, have you experienced bullying for some stupid reason? Don't hesitate to share with us in the comments below!
#16
I was a kid who liked Star Wars, so I wore Star Wars shirts. That's when it started.
Two decades later, those who did the bullying are suddenly "huge fans" and wear vintage style shirts in their social media profile photos.
Well then.
#17
Enjoying Minecraft. Their justification was the "terrible" graphics of the game.
#18
My nose. It is wider than the average western nose. I am part Thai, part Indonesian. They used to call me "stopcontact"(=wall socket) in primary school.
#19
My nipples were too small. I am a guy.
#20
I was in the gifted/talented class, otherwise known as the "Nerd Herd". I moved in during 5th grade. At my previous school it was cool to be in G/T. At my new school it was horrible. Life from 5-8 grades was both terrible and also where I met some of my closest friends.
#21
Talking to a girl someone was interested in and got bullied. She was a neighbor, a girl I knew my whole life. I passed by her house and she and a guy our age were talking in the driveway. I walked up to say hi. I was in a sling from a baseball injury. Her friend starts pushing me and trips me and I fall. I get up and told him I couldn't believe he is picking on me while I can't defend myself and he would pay. I got better and kicked his a*s. Then we became friends.
#22
I was bullied for wearing the color black. They would throw bibles at my head and call me a demon.
#23
I was bullied because instead of playing soccer, or softball "like most girls" I took horse back riding lessons, and my family had horses.
#24
My grandfather died suddenly, and it affected my mental health badly. I got bullied in daycare because I wanted to make friends and not feel the loneliness that his death caused. People thought I was clingy... I was eight years old, and to this day, I still like to hang out with people older than me because I don't trust people my age.
#25
In second grade, I misspelled my last name on the very first assignment. This caused my teacher to mispronounce my name when returning said assignment. Not in a funny way or anything. It didn't, like, create a new meaning or sound like a different word. Just a simple mispronunciation. I was teased for the next four years about it. Kids just chanting my mispronounced name at me. It didn't bother me at first, I thought they sounded dumb making a joke about nothing. But their persistence paid off and it really got toe after a while. It just stopped in sixth grade. No reason. Just stopped.
#26
I was bullied alot so I'm sure I was an awkward kid and an easy target. I got bullied having hairy arms, hairy legs, for "talking white", etc. But one time I wanted attention and for some reason I told kids at a camp I was at that I didn't brush my teeth and I got bullied for that. Lol I have no idea why I did that.
#27
I'm a girl and enjoyed playing with cars as a kid,apparently it wasn't something 'cool' according to some boys in my school.
Huddo's sister 8 months ago
I'm glad none of the kids cared about this at my school, not that I would have noticed if they did. I started a new school in grade 2 and didn't really hang out with the girls. I spent most lunchtimes with my brother, our next door neighbour and some other boys in the sandpit with cars.
#29
I got bullied for wearing high waters. To this day, I still don’t know what they are.
#30
I was very lightly bullied at age 12 by two other 12 year olds who thought I didn't swear correctly.
Ms.GB 8 months ago (edited)
I got bullied because I wouldn't swear. The popular girls came up to me and asked me to swear they said "Just swear and you can be one of us, don't ypu want to be one of us?" I knew they well full of it. I was 10 or 11. Of course now I swear like a drunken sailor at times but it's on my terms dammit!
#31
Cinnamon infused toothpicks back in 6th grade. The cool kids had toothpicks soaking for months. They laughed and made fun of my week-old toothpicks, and then they shunned me.
#32
When I was in highschool I was playing MTG at dinner with my friends. And a little kid pass by laught at us... We says aren't you guys to old to be playing with thoses kinds of cards?
We asked him how old he was, and he said he was 11... We we're 16.. so we just look at him and tell him that he's not even old enought to buy them. (Since on the package it says 13+) ...
#33
Was too skinny.
Dawn Marie 8 months ago
I had terrible acne from 5th grade all the way through high school. This was way before all the treatments they have now for it. I was this first in school to start this horror so I got called DPI which stood for the first initial of my first name this pimple incorporated. It stuck all the way through high school graduation. My father was no help, "go wash your face" like I wasn't doing that already and "ignore them, they will stop." Great advice Dad. This was before Bullying was a big deal, back in the 1960's, but I can still feel the sting at times.
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What do you think ?
CrunChewy McSandybutt 8 months ago
They hate if you're pretty, they hate you if you're not. They hate you for what you lack, they hate you for what you got.
rainy_days (fae/faer) 8 months ago
I was bullied because i was younger. It is very funny looking back. Why did a bunch of 11-2yos have beef with a 9yo? it makes no sense.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 8 months ago
I was bullied for having curly hair (the kids called me "Chia Pet" and would rip out handfuls of my hair from my scalp.) I also got teased for my name: Crystal. The kids would chant "Crystal pistol Crystal pistol!" and laugh like it was the wittiest thing since the invention of the fart joke. When I was a kid, the mockery and bullying really hurt. Now, I'm like, dudes, you bullied me for being named CRYSTAL? Jeez, how unimaginative XD
Crystal M 8 months ago
I was bullied for not having brand name clothes in elementary and middle school, my parents did their best.
Vinnie 8 months ago
I caught a 6-year-old neighbour telling a girl his age what brand she should wear. I told him "It doesn't matter, she can't wear what she wants." He was a sweet kid, so I think he just needed a heads up that not everything is a hard-fast rule. I did similar at that age and the teacher said, "So what?" Lesson learned.
Load More Replies...
DelvianBlue 8 months ago (edited)
I have a very German name (I'm American), and when I was 11 I was interested in my family history and in Germany in general. For an oral history report we were asked research the life of one of history's greatest villains. Being curious and just starting to learn about WWII, I picked Hitler. From then on my classmates labeled me a jew-hating n.a.z.i who personally caused those deaths, gradually morphing into a satanist and demon incarnate (because I have a last name that sounds German, and I thought Hitler was evil?) Add to that, I didn't start wearing a bra as early as the other girls in my class thought I should and that gave them permission to start sexual harassment, and the boys felt I was too ugly to be a girl and that made it okay to hit and kick me. It was stupid at first, but after years of abuse they started pushing me to off myself on a daily basis saying the world would be a better place without me in it. Middle school is rough. Glad to be in a better place now!
Sven Horlemann 8 months ago
I am 6'4. Growing up in the 80's, that was TALL, ha ha. Then again. I got big self esteem and all the teasing and bullying did not bother me. So they stopped. Because, where is the fun if the one being bullied does not care?
Earonn - 8 months ago
I wonder where these kids get that cruelty. You don't really see it in toddlers, do you? At some point kids learn that "being other" in whatever way gives them the right to bully a person. Where does that come from?
Littlemiss 8 months ago (edited)
Parents, siblings, family members. I once had a 4 year old tell her friends not to play with the r*tard kid. The child she bullied had global delays. It came from her mother who was a plunket nurse ffs (She worked with children and did health checks!). It's very common to hear disgusting things come out of children's mouths, then meet the parents and see where they get it from.
Load More Replies...
Cerridwn d'Wyse 8 months ago
There was a song back in the day, recorded by Peter Paul and Mary and I'm not sure by who else, called quote don't laugh at me
Little Bit 8 months ago
I was bullied because I wore glasses; because I'm very short; because i don't have any siblings; because I enjoyed reading; because I played the violin; because I didn't wear makeup; because I didn't dress in the latest fashions; because I prefer my own company; because all my life I've been a total misfit.
Littlemiss 8 months ago
I got bullied because I'm pear shaped. A moron decided I should be called penguin as a result. It never took off, but he tried for 6 months to insult me. Another decided that because my cousin and I attended the same school that we must have an i*ncestuous relationship. We were the same age, were in the same classes, and looked nothing alike but we needed to be told how disgusting we were and that we must sleep together - every single day for a year because we were related.
Chewie Baron 8 months ago
I was bullied for the following, having g no parents, living in a kids home, living with foster parents, because I joined high school in the second year, and they’d been there since the previous year, because I came top in various exams and beat the class swots which went against the grain, because I was seen as an outsider, because I was a (very) good dancer, because.
PunchinelloTX 8 months ago
Of all the many things I feared would be the cause of being bullied after moving to Texas at age 13– I a skinny, sensitive, AP class, auburn-haired, gay theatre/art kid, with an unidentifiable “foreign” accent and vaguely “ethnic” features which could be anything from European to middle-eastern who came from SOMEWHERE ELSE, I was bullied for wearing a white T-shirt in gym. That was the thing. I was called “marshmallow man” until I was graduated despite the fact that I haven’t worn a white T-shirt EVER since that first day.
CrunChewy McSandybutt 8 months ago
They hate if you're pretty, they hate you if you're not. They hate you for what you lack, they hate you for what you got.
rainy_days (fae/faer) 8 months ago
I was bullied because i was younger. It is very funny looking back. Why did a bunch of 11-2yos have beef with a 9yo? it makes no sense.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 8 months ago
I was bullied for having curly hair (the kids called me "Chia Pet" and would rip out handfuls of my hair from my scalp.) I also got teased for my name: Crystal. The kids would chant "Crystal pistol Crystal pistol!" and laugh like it was the wittiest thing since the invention of the fart joke. When I was a kid, the mockery and bullying really hurt. Now, I'm like, dudes, you bullied me for being named CRYSTAL? Jeez, how unimaginative XD
Crystal M 8 months ago
I was bullied for not having brand name clothes in elementary and middle school, my parents did their best.
Vinnie 8 months ago
I caught a 6-year-old neighbour telling a girl his age what brand she should wear. I told him "It doesn't matter, she can't wear what she wants." He was a sweet kid, so I think he just needed a heads up that not everything is a hard-fast rule. I did similar at that age and the teacher said, "So what?" Lesson learned.
Load More Replies... DelvianBlue 8 months ago (edited)
I have a very German name (I'm American), and when I was 11 I was interested in my family history and in Germany in general. For an oral history report we were asked research the life of one of history's greatest villains. Being curious and just starting to learn about WWII, I picked Hitler. From then on my classmates labeled me a jew-hating n.a.z.i who personally caused those deaths, gradually morphing into a satanist and demon incarnate (because I have a last name that sounds German, and I thought Hitler was evil?) Add to that, I didn't start wearing a bra as early as the other girls in my class thought I should and that gave them permission to start sexual harassment, and the boys felt I was too ugly to be a girl and that made it okay to hit and kick me. It was stupid at first, but after years of abuse they started pushing me to off myself on a daily basis saying the world would be a better place without me in it. Middle school is rough. Glad to be in a better place now!
Sven Horlemann 8 months ago
I am 6'4. Growing up in the 80's, that was TALL, ha ha. Then again. I got big self esteem and all the teasing and bullying did not bother me. So they stopped. Because, where is the fun if the one being bullied does not care?
Earonn - 8 months ago
I wonder where these kids get that cruelty. You don't really see it in toddlers, do you? At some point kids learn that "being other" in whatever way gives them the right to bully a person. Where does that come from?
Littlemiss 8 months ago (edited)
Parents, siblings, family members. I once had a 4 year old tell her friends not to play with the r*tard kid. The child she bullied had global delays. It came from her mother who was a plunket nurse ffs (She worked with children and did health checks!). It's very common to hear disgusting things come out of children's mouths, then meet the parents and see where they get it from.
Load More Replies... Cerridwn d'Wyse 8 months ago
There was a song back in the day, recorded by Peter Paul and Mary and I'm not sure by who else, called quote don't laugh at me
Little Bit 8 months ago
I was bullied because I wore glasses; because I'm very short; because i don't have any siblings; because I enjoyed reading; because I played the violin; because I didn't wear makeup; because I didn't dress in the latest fashions; because I prefer my own company; because all my life I've been a total misfit.
Littlemiss 8 months ago
I got bullied because I'm pear shaped. A moron decided I should be called penguin as a result. It never took off, but he tried for 6 months to insult me. Another decided that because my cousin and I attended the same school that we must have an i*ncestuous relationship. We were the same age, were in the same classes, and looked nothing alike but we needed to be told how disgusting we were and that we must sleep together - every single day for a year because we were related.
Chewie Baron 8 months ago
I was bullied for the following, having g no parents, living in a kids home, living with foster parents, because I joined high school in the second year, and they’d been there since the previous year, because I came top in various exams and beat the class swots which went against the grain, because I was seen as an outsider, because I was a (very) good dancer, because.
PunchinelloTX 8 months ago
Of all the many things I feared would be the cause of being bullied after moving to Texas at age 13– I a skinny, sensitive, AP class, auburn-haired, gay theatre/art kid, with an unidentifiable “foreign” accent and vaguely “ethnic” features which could be anything from European to middle-eastern who came from SOMEWHERE ELSE, I was bullied for wearing a white T-shirt in gym. That was the thing. I was called “marshmallow man” until I was graduated despite the fact that I haven’t worn a white T-shirt EVER since that first day.
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