How to help your child deal with bullying?
Bullying can be brutal for kids. Almost 30% of students are bullied worldwide each year.
Recently, this Burger King Campaign showing how difficult it is for children to stand up against a bully, or even prevent it from happening to a friend caught a lot of attention online.
And often, in the early years, it can get even more difficult for a child to understand what is right or wrong, and stand up against something when they know that it is wrong!
Bullying can have an adverse impact on a child in early years in many ways. It can shatter that child’s confidence and his self-esteem during the important growing stages of his or her life.
No matter if the bullying is verbal, physical or in any other form, the child needs to be assured that he/she is not alone in the battle. Here are some tips which you can try is there have been any incidences of bullying with your child.
Be Aware
Victims of bullying already feel threatened and powerless and this makes it more difficult for them to ask for help.
So, for parents it becomes very crucial to spot that something is not right. Here are some signs parents should be always on the lookout for –
- Change in appetite
- Torn clothes
- Change in behaviour
- Reluctance to go to school
- Withdrawal or acting out
Redefine tattling
In many cases, children generally prefer to suffer bullying instead of talking about it due to the fear of getting labelled as a ‘tattletale’ and this is exactly what the bully wants them to think!
So encourage your kids to speak up whenever they think that some wrong is happening with them.
Offer Assurance
Being bullied can make the child feel isolated and alone, but you need to assure them that you are on their side no matter what.
Bullying can also affect their self-esteem, so it is very important that parents comfort and assure their children that it is not their fault that they are being bullied.
Act quickly
The longer the bullying continues, the stronger the control the bully has over his victim.
Once the bully has realised that his victim is afraid to speak up, the aggression worsens.
So parents should teach their kids that taking action against the bully is the best way to stop it and the sooner it is done the better.
Speak to school officials
If the bullying seems to continue, it is always a good idea to involve somebody from the school. So talk to the teachers, principal and even the school counsellors to see what they can do.
Also, you (a parent) getting involved can ensure that the school is doing everything that needs to be done to protect all children from the menace of bullying.
