Saturday, November 19, 2011

Bullying

Some tips from Kids Help Phone:
Listen. If a young person reports a bullying incident to you, either as a target or a bystander, act immediately. Your child needs to know that you can and will help. If the bully is a student consider reporting it to the school principal. If you feel that your child is physically at risk, call the police at once.

Stay aware. Keep the family computer in a central location where you can easily monitor it.

Be supportive. Don't under estimate what your child is going through. Listen to your child and try to understand the impact the bullying is having on them, and assure them that you are on their side.

Encourage them to do the right thing. If your kid is a bystander, explain that it's important that they don't stay a silent witness. You might want to ask things like, "would you want someone to have your back if you were the one getting bullied?"

Don't tell them to fight back. Be assertive, not aggressive. Fighting or responding to online abuse or rumours with more of the same doesn't help anyone. (Read entire article.)
Share

1 comment:

Julygirl said...

I might add....use discernment; (1)You could allow yourself as a parent or caregiver to fall into a 'crying wolf' mode in that your child may report issues to get attention...ask questions. (2) Teach your child to be assertive and not become a victim whom bullies prey upon. (3) If your own child is a bully try to find out why he/she feels helpless and needs to prey upon someone weaker. We tell our child that it is their responsiblity to protect someone who is weaker, be it another child or an animal.