Teach Your Child How to Handle Bullies

One of the toughest parts about being a parent and sending your child off to school is the thought of that child going to a learning institution and having to deal with bullies. School is meant to be the place they learn in a safe and friendly environment, and as much as we hope they won’t have to deal with bullies, children usually do.

The emotions associated with being bullied can be a real problem. Many children who have been bullied have associated feelings of being sad, depressed, hurt, lonely, scared, and embarrassed. These emotions can become harmful to children who can become sick or emotionally distraught and stressed out from being bullied. And with nearly three-quarters of all children reporteely being bullied or teased, this can be a major problem.

Grades K-6th
These are the years that bullies really start to come out and show how mean they can be. To help your child deal with bullies you should offer advice and allow your child to find a solution for handling the problem themselves. This will help them stand up to bullies in the future. Of course, if the bullying persists, contact school administration.

Advise your children to first attempt to ignore or avoid the bully, although this tactic rarely works with children it’s worth a try first. Just tell them to completely pretend like they can’t hear the bully, like they just don’t exist. When bullies can’t hurt your child with words they will usually attempt to complete their goal of hurting people’s feelings by moving on to another kid. Sometimes the only way to silence bullies is to make them silent.

The next step, if that tactic didn’t work, is to stand strong against the bully and be brave. Being brave is enough to stop a bully, I remember when I was a kid and had a group of children who chased me home from school almost everyday, until I turned around and stood my ground to the biggest kid there. I defended myself against the biggest kid, I was in the fifth grade, and after that day those kids never messed with me again. In fact, they became my closest friend in school and I still am a friend with them today, even twenty years later. You should never show fear, even if you are scared (as I was that day). Teach them to be brave.

Explain to them they should feel good about themselves, they are good people and would never hurt someone else with words. It is the bully that everyone should feel sorry for; most bullies come from troubled family lives. This is how these kids have become so mean and angry and they take their aggression out on those they feel are weaker than themselves.

Have your child get a close friend or put together a buddy system, where they are always with another friend.

Main points to address:

• Try to first silence the bully through pretending they are really not there, they are not standing in front of them, not talking to them, they don’t exist. When they make fun of them tell them to talk to another friend as though they don’t hear a word.
• Have them get a buddy and have a buddy system.
• Teach them to be strong and stand brave against the bully, this can truly be their best defense.

Keep notes on everything your child tells you on a daily basis, every time the bully does something to your child and every effort your child makes to stop it. Have every event dated and when everything else has failed talk to your schools principle or administrators about how long this has been going on and you want something done about it. Be sure to take all your notes with you, as this will not give the bully an opportunity to deny the events. Just don’t let the bully win.

Resources
Resources that can help you in your venture include:

• Family Education – http://life.familyeducation.com
• Kids Health – Dealing with Bullies
• Pioneer Thinking – Emotional Bullies

Posted in Character.

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