Life
Teens harass little kid at the park - Man films how bystanders respond to the bullying
Don’t be a bystander.
Cedric Jackson
03.15.19

Bullying is a huge problem among school-age children today. Studies have shown that about 28 percent of children between the ages of 12 and 18 experience problems with bullying, with as many as 160,000 students saying they find ways to avoid school if it means they have to come face-to-face with their bullies.

Teen suicide rates are also a problem connected to bullying. Almost 8 percent of teens between the ages of 14 and 18 say they have attempted suicide in the last 12 months, many of them because of bullying by their peers.

YouTube Screenshot/MattTV
Source:
YouTube Screenshot/MattTV

Recently, a man named Matthew Bandeira decided to perform a social experiment to increase awareness about bullying and how both adults and youth should address it.

The goal of the social experiment was to see how people would react when they saw three teens bullying a young boy. Bandeira recruited four child actors to help him and set the scene.

In a public park, three teens approached a younger boy and took away his ball, taunting him as they did so.

“Gotta be faster than that,” said one of the boys, while another said, “You wanna play soccer in college, you gotta be fast!”

YouTube Screenshot/MattTV
Source:
YouTube Screenshot/MattTV

Meanwhile, the victim was pleading with them to stop and leave him alone.

The actors did multiple different scenarios in the vicinity of adults. In one, they approached the boy and threw his backpack across the walkway, letting it hit the fence. Immediately, a woman nearby jumped to the aid of the boy.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “You can’t do that. That’s not fair. That’s not playing. I wouldn’t like someone playing with my son like that. I don’t think friends do that.”

YouTube Screenshot/MattTV
Source:
YouTube Screenshot/MattTV

She gathered the group up and addressed each of them.

When the boys protested that they were just messing around and didn’t mean any harm, she laid down the law, saying that if they were really friends, they wouldn’t treat one another like that.

In another scenario, the bullies converged on the younger boy, taking his ball away while he pleaded with them to stop. Meanwhile, a blonde woman sat nearby, looking at her phone. At first, it seemed as though she didn’t want to get involved.

YouTube Screenshot/MattTV
Source:
YouTube Screenshot/MattTV

But eventually, the conversation grew too much for her to ignore.

She looked around for another adult. But realizing the boy was alone, she approached him and asked if he knew the boys harassing him.

“That wasn’t playing,” she said angrily to the bullies. “He told you to leave him alone. It’s not your ball. He’s not your friend. You guys are way too big to be messing with a little boy like this.”

YouTube Screenshot/MattTV
Source:
YouTube Screenshot/MattTV

A third time the scenario set up, a middle-aged man became involved.

The moment he realized something was off about the situation, he began to follow the boys and eventually called out to them.

“Gentleman, what are you doing?” he asked. “You got a problem? Why are you picking on a little kid? Don’t you think your parents would love this — you guys getting arrested for picking on a little kid?”

The teens looked down and mumbled their answers, but the man wasn’t letting up.

“Why didn’t you guys stop him?” he asked the other two teens. “You guys wanna be part of this?”

Having told the teens off, the man made sure the boy was okay, then told him to come with him. Then he squared up to the teens and invited them to leave the park.

YouTube Screenshot/MattTV
Source:
YouTube Screenshot/MattTV

Some adults reacted by trying to help the bullies understand the consequences of their actions.

Others were angry and acted as authority figures, telling the bullies off while trying to protect the little boy.

They also had different answers when they were asked why they had intervened.

One woman said she had a son herself and knew she wanted him to be safe. Another woman said she simply stepped in because no one else was. Bandeira hopes others will take the same actions.

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