Teasing: Not Just Harmless Fun

Teasing is a common practice that is often meant to be playful. Adults and young people will sometimes engage in playful teasing, but teasing can easily cross the line and become hurtful. It’s important that young people know that teasing can be harmful under the following conditions:

• When one person is targeted
• When it happens repeatedly, even though the person has asked for it to stop
• When someone makes fun of a person’s race, culture, gender, ability or some other aspect of their person that is out of their control
• When it involves touching or crosses physical boundaries

These types of hurtful teasing can be considered bullying or harassment.

Your child should know that bullying and harassment are never okay, even if their intent was not to irritate or hurt the other person. Make sure your child knows verbal teasing, grabbing part of someone’s body, snapping someone’s bra or pulling down a person’s pants, which some may think is funny, can be extremely annoying, embarrassing and hurtful to the other person.

If you see your child verbally or physically teasing another child, encourage your child to consider how the other person might feel. If they wouldn’t want someone verbally teasing, poking or grabbing them, then it’s not something they should do to another person. Make sure your child knows that teasing is not a healthy way to get another person’s attention. Suggest some other ways your child might engage with another person, such as asking how the other person is, engaging in conversation or inviting them to play a game.

Your child should also know that if they have a concern about someone teasing them, they can come to you for help.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

After watching the video with your class, process it using the following discussion questions: