Bullying is intentional tormenting in physical, verbal, or psychological ways. It can range from hitting, shoving, name-calling, threats, and mocking to extorting money and possessions can leave deep emotional scars. And in extreme situations, it can involve violent threats, property damage, or someone getting seriously hurt. If your child is being bullied, you want to act to help stop it and also Make sure your kids are prepared should the situation ever occur.
How Your Child Can Deal With a Bully
Your kid might get bullied at any time, therefore, as a parent you need to aware what to do if confronted by a bully. Most of the time, as parents we are trying to develop our kid’s assertiveness skills, building their self-esteem and improving their social skills, but that’s not enough because your kid also needs to improve on practical tools on how to handle bullying situations.
There are seven ideas that any child can implement.
Ignore the bully
Most of the bullies get worse when there is a reaction, therefore, the best way to respond for a bully is not reacting when someone says or does something hurtful. They want the victim to get angry or sad. Therefore, you need to teach your child to walk away when he heard the name-calling or any other type of bullying. Ultimately, the bully will go away as there is no response from your child.
Tell the bully to stop
Sometimes, bullies do not expect someone to stand against them, they are mostly focusing on the kids who can be easily intimidated. Therefore, telling a bully to stop with a tough and self-confident voice can be very effective because bullies normally focus on the victim who stays silent. However, if your child can be self-confident and let the bully knows that he cannot walk all over him, the bully is more likely to stop very soon.
Make a joke or agree with the bully
Most of the kids are funny, it’s their natural behavior. So if such kids can laugh right along with the bully, it shows that the kids are confident about who they are. It doesn’t bother them even if the people try to bully them. When your child makes jokes with the bully, it disperses any power the bully thought he had over your child, and his bullying methods become unsuccessful.
Avoid bullying hot spots
One of the best ways to avoid bullying is to avoid the places where bullies’ hangout. Places like far corners of the playground, vacant hallways, bathrooms, locker rooms, and the back of the bus should be ignored. Therefore, you need to make sure that your child knows where these spots are located in order to avoid them.
Stick with friends
Bullies commonly seeking for kids who are unaccompanied or socially isolated. Therefore, be sure your child knows that hanging out with friends is a great way to prevent bullying. If your child fights with social skills or has very limited friends, you need to help him develop friendships. By one healthy friendship can go a long way in guarding your child against bullies.
Know how to get out of a bullying situation
Communicate with your child about ways in which he can defend himself against bullies, As an example, be sure your child knows to keep his eye on the exit and to use it when the opportunity presents itself. Your child does not have to “fight” the bully to defend himself. He has to aware of how to diffuse the situation and protect himself.
Report the bullying to an adult.
Another best way to stop bullying will be reporting it to an adult. Communicate the reasons why kids don’t tell others they are being bullied and make sure your children know that you understand their fears. As a guardian, you need to be very careful not to involve in victim-blaming or to disapprove your child for getting bullied. Bullying is a choice made by the bully and never the responsibility of the victim.
I am a Business Management graduate from the University Of Staffordshire (UK) and a qualified personnel officer who completed the National Diploma of Training and Human Resource development at Institute of Personnel Management (Sri-Lanka).
Apart from my professional career in the field of HRM, I am also a freelance writer of web and business contents.
What happens when the teacher ignores the bullying? or the Teacher is the bully