What Parents Can Do To Stop Bullying - Sandrine Alouidor - NoSchoolViolence Writer

Luckily, there are ways parents can prevent bullying and stop it in its tracks. Here are some tips:

Parents

What to do if you believe your child is being bullied:

  1. Gather evidence

  • Be sure your child is being bullied before taking action. 

  1. Reach out to your child

  •  When reaching out to your child, do not ask them if they are being bullied.  Many children do want to get caught for tattling or believe they can handle it themselves. When you do reach out, make it clear that you will not judge, and that you only wish to help.

If you discover your child is being bullied:

  1. Contact your child’s teachers and the administrators. 

  • Teachers have a better understanding of relationships between students due to their close proximity to their students. Speak to your child’s teacher about your concerns, and contact the school administrator to report the bully. Follow up with a letter to the superintendent if your initial inquiry receives no response, i.e., if  the bullying continues. 

  1. Teach your child how to handle being bullied

  • Often, administrators cannot or do not punish the bully right away. So, until the administration acts, teach your child what to do if the bully approaches them. Practice scenarios with your child about how to handle the bully. Have your child identify teachers and friends to speak to if they’re worried about being bullied. 

  1. For cyberbullying-set boundaries with technology: Teach your child not to respond or forward threatening messages. Set up filters on your child’s computer. As a parent, you insist the phones must be stored in a certain area at night to ensure no inappropriate messages will be seen by your child at nighttime. Report all threatening messages to your local police department.

Prevention

  1. Parents can speak to children about the consequences of bullying and make it clear that bullying is unacceptable

  2. Encourage children to report bullying.

  3. Model the behavior you want to see

  • Being exposed to aggressive behavior can increase the likelihood a kid will bully. Modeling positive examples in relationships will teach kids that bullying is wrong.

  1. Look for low self-esteem issues

  • Kids with low self-esteem issues often bully to feel better about themselves. Watch out for signs and if your child is bullying, discipline them.

Educators/Schools

  1. Create a clear and strict bullying policy. 

  • Bullying policy should make it clear that there are consequences to bullying, and emphasize helping the victim and teaching the bully, rather than blaming the bully. 

  1. Start educational initiatives about bullying early. 

  • Bullying tends to increase in middle school, so addressing bullying at a young age reduces the likelihood of bullying.

  • Teach students about what bullying is, how to recognize it, and what to do. Inform children that telling is not tattling.

  • One method to encourage students to tell teachers about bullying is to create bullying boxes or notes, anonymous notes that allow students to inform administration about bullies without telling or exposing themselves to the bully.

By utilizing these methods, parents can stop bullying in its tracks, and prevent bullying from ever occurring.

References

Admission.ly staff. (n.d.). Admissionly. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://admissionsly.com/bullying-statistics/#Where_Bullying_Occurs

APA staff. (2010). Bullying: What Parents, Teachers Can Do to Stop It. American Psychological Association. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/04/bullying

APA staff. (2010, April). Bullying. American Psychological Association. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/04/bullying

APA staff. (2011). How parents, teachers and kids can take action to prevent bullying. American Psychological Association. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/topics/bullying/prevent

Benaroch, R., M.D. (2016, May). What Does Bullying Look Like? Wedmd.com. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/children-bullying-school#1

CDC Staff. (2020, July). Preventing Bullying [Fact sheet]. Center of Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/bullyingresearch/fastfact.html

Dryden-Edwards, R., M.D. (2019, July). Bullying [Fact sheet]. Medicine.net. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.medicinenet.com/bullying/article.htm

EDC Staff. (2013). What is Bullying [Fact sheet]. Educational Development Center. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from http://preventingbullying.promoteprevent.org/what-bullying

Menesini, E., & Salmivalli, C. (2017, January 24). Bullying in schools: the state of knowledge and effective interventions [White paper]. Taylor and Francis Online. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13548506.2017.1279740

National Bullying Prevention Center. (2020, November). Bullying statistics [Fact sheet]. National Bullying Prevention Center. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.pacer.org/bullying/info/stats.asp

National Education Association. (2020, August). How to Identify Bullying. National Education Association. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/how-identify-bullying

NCAB Staff. (n.d.). Signs of Bullying. National Centre Against Bullying. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.ncab.org.au/bullying-advice/bullying-for-parents/signs-of-bullying/

Office of Communications. (2017, January 31). How does bullying affect health and well-being? National Institutes of Health. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/bullying/conditioninfo/health

PennState Extension Editors. (2017, September 7). Bullying: What Educators Can do About it. University of Pennslyvania Extension. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://extension.psu.edu/bullying-what-educators-can-do-about-it

PT Staff. (1993, January 1). Of the Bullies and the Bullied. Psychology Today. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/199301/bullies-and-the-bullied

PT Staff. (2009, July). Bullying [Fact sheet]. Psychology Today. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bullying

Sheikh, K. (2018, April). How Deep is the Impact of Bullying? Psychology Today. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201801/how-deep-is-the-impact-bullying

Stomp Out Bullying. (n.d.). Signs Your Child is Being Bullied-Tip Sheet [Fact sheet]. Stomp out Bullying.org. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.stompoutbullying.org/tip-sheet-signs-your-child-being-bullied

Stopbullying.gov editors. (2020, July). Effects of Bullying [Fact sheet]. Stopbullying.gov. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/effects

Stopbullying.gov editors. (2020, July). What is Bullying [Fact sheet]. Stopbullying.gov. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/what-is-bullying

Stopbullying.gov staff. (n.d.). Warning Signs of Bullying. Stop Bullying.gov. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/warning-signs

 

 



Paul Privateer