|
|
What To Do If Your Child Is Being Bullied
Approximately 15% of students are subject to bullying on a daily basis. This means that in a class of 30 students, you can expect that between 4 and 5 students are bullied every day. Some very famous people have been bullied, including Bill Gates, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, David Beckham, Sir Albert Einstein and Daryl Hannah.
Bullying is different from teasing, or playing around because the person doing the bullying enjoys hurting the victim and having power over the victim. Also, bullying usually follows a pattern of repeated behaviour over a period of time.
Bullying can be Verbal, the child is called names, put down, threatened; Physical, the child is hit, tripped, poked, kicked, or belongings are stolen or damaged; Social, the child is left out, ignored, or rumours are spread; Psychological, the child is stalked or intimidated by, for example, using threatening body language.
How do you know your child is being bullied?
If your child is being bullied you may notice the following signs. Your child:
has bruises, cuts, scratches, torn clothing that cannot be explained and complains about not feeling well;
is reluctant to go to school or requests to change schools;
has books, money, lunch or belongings stolen, damaged, scattered around or says they are lost;
makes excuses to avoid going to school, or insists that you take him/her to school even though you live close by;
is not sleeping well or is wetting the bed;
frequently requests money;
experiences a sudden, unexplained deterioration in class work and/or homework;
does not participate in school activities/has no friends/stays near the teacher during breaks;
appears anxious, insecure, distressed, unhappy, sad, secretive or has mood changes and seems more angry than usual;
claims I am okay when questioned about obvious unhappiness;
appears to have low self-esteem;
is unhappy at the end of weekends or school vacation;
has few friends and no friends in class and is not invited to birthday parties or other social activities;
appears to be teased and laughed at by his/her peer group.
If your child is being bullied here are some things you can do:
Step 1: Stay calm. It is important that you stay calm even though your child might be very upset. Children will pick up your reaction very quickly and respond to it. If you immediately become angry and want to confront the teacher or the bully you may be displaying aggressive behaviour similar to bullying; if you lay all the blame on the bully (even though this is perfectly reasonable) it may encourage your child to feel powerless; if you brush aside the concerns of your, you are implying that bullying is not important. The important thing is to let children know that you are on their side and that together you are going to work out a solution.
Step 2: Analyse the bullying. Write down what is happening, when, where who is doing the bullying. This gives you factual information that you can use if you choose later to report the bullying. It also allows you to look for patterns so that bullying can be avoided. For example, if your child is always bullied on the way to school, you can look at alternative routes or alternative transport or organise for others to accompany your child.
Step 3: Ignore the bullying if possible. This may take some time, but if the bullying is not severe physical bullying, and if your child can calmly walk away from the bully over time the research shows that the bullying stops. Tell your child to try not to show he or she is upset as bullies love this. Do not encourage your child to fight back. This can cause the bullying to escalate. Do encourage your child to try to avoid risk situations, to talk to a friend about it, to forget about it by doing something they enjoy.
Step 4: Decision time. Secrecy just increases the power of the bully; and ignoring bullying condones it. If someone is being assaulted in the streets, children agree it should be reported to the police. If a child is being bullied at school the same applies. It is most important for children to know that bullying is never acceptable. If they have tried analysing the bullying and ignoring the bullying without success, it is time that they report the bullying.
Remember, if you do not report bullying the bully will think he or she can get away with it.
About the Author Robyn Collins is a former school principal and passionate about education. She wants every student to love learning and feel safe at school.
Find out more about how you can help your child to be free from bullying at: http://www.freefrombullies.com
|
 |
Please Rate: |
|
Rating: |
 Processing ... |
(Average: Not rated) |
| Views: | 24 | |
|
| More Articles from Society and Culture | | |
| Top Articles in Society and Culture | | |
|
