If your child is being bullied:
· · Discuss alternative ways to respond to bullies, other than fighting.· Teach your child to not react, walk away, and get help from a grown-up.·· Teach your child to act confidently. If they fidget, act nervous, or get mad, this is what the bully wants.·· Tell your child to inform grown-ups when they are being bullied. "Telling" is not "tattling." Tattling is when a child tells something to get someone else in trouble on purpose or to make him or her look good.· Make sure your child never comes to school alone. Vary the ways and times that they come to or go home from school.· Do not blame. Your discussion should focus about the "whys" of what happened.· Teach your children to be friends to others. Have them inform adults when they witness other children being bullied.· Do not allow your child to bring expensive things or extra money to school.
· If your child is a bully:
· Tell them that bullying is not acceptable in your family.· Teach them ways to act when they are feeling frustrated, angry, or aggressive.· Help your child to understand how others feel. Begin with asking them how they feel when others treat them badly.· Specify concretely the consequences if the aggression or bullying continues.· Understand your child's feelings. Teach and reward appropriate behavior. |
