Tag Archives: bullying

Sadly bullying is still a major problem in many schools, despite worldwide anti bullying campaigns and school run initiatives. Although it’s impossible to eradicate bullying in its entirety, there are many “bullying prevention skills” which can protect and help kids from certain types of bullying. Increasing your child’s confidence and helping them to develop positive peer relationships are two steps will hell help ensure their well being at school.    

If you find out that your child is being bullied, the first thing you should do is to assure them that they are not to blame. Kids often internalize things, believing they somehow provoked or deserved it. They need to know that you will work with them to make the situation stop, not make it worse, it’s often a kid’s fear that the parent is going to go knocking on the bully’s front door. However this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t talk to your child’s teacher, you’ll want the teacher to keep an eye on the situation and to reprimand the bully if needed. 

Explain that countering bullying with retaliation is never effective; it only serves to amplify conflict. Many parents want to teach their kid to ‘stand up’ to a bully, but we know this doesn’t help.

Tell your child to appear unruffled, even though they will feel it inside. The lesson here is to not let the bully engage you or get your goat, instead, practice peaceful, non-engagement tactics.

Bullying tends to happen when the target child is isolated, so be strategic encourage you child to take friends with them when they go to the washroom, walk between classes in a group and eat with friends.

No matter how angry you are at the bully for tormenting your child, it’s important to feel empathy and understanding towards to bully as well. You don’t know the bully’s situation: they may have troubles at home, suffer from an illness or are bullied themselves. It’s an important trait to teach your little ones: greater awareness of others’ feelings not only allows kids to treat each other with respect and kindness, it also makes them more likely to intervene when necessary. Kids with good perspective-taking skills are less likely to be physically, verbally, and indirectly aggressive to peers because they are better able to manage social situations and make the right decisions about their behavior. Empathic concern toward peers makes bystanders more likely to intervene to stop bullying, and those with perspective-taking skills are more likely to offer emotional support to others.