Bullying is a surging issue in schools, and students usually do not find a way out of it. While Entering a new school, the biggest fear facing students is getting bullied, which overwhelms them on their first day. The issue is not confined to children; even adults face such issues at high school, university or even offices. Since adults are mature enough, they deal with it efficiently, but children find it challenging to survive in a bullying environment.
Schools are a place to nurture learning and creativity among students, and bullying is a hurdle in the way. Parents’ role is crucial in this situation to ensure a healthy and conducive learning environment for their children and teach them to deal with such uncertain situations effectively.
Forms of bullying
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Bullying can exist in three forms: physical, verbal, or psychological. Physical bullying includes beating, hurting, hitting, punching, pushing, etc. It is quite common among children and very dangerous since it can cause serious injuries and traumas. Verbal bullying includes bashing, abusing, calling names or threatening. It causes stress and anxiety among children.
The third form of bullying is often ignored or not thought of as bullying despite being common. It includes making someone feel lonely by ignoring them, cutting them off in an activity or conversation, spreading rumours, etc. This type of bullying destroys the self-esteem of the bullied child and causes him to lose confidence. Bullying in any form is harmful not only for bullied but also for bullies.
Here is a guide for parents on how to deal with bullies.
Encourage your child to speak up.
Facing all the difficult things alone and not opening up about it to someone is quite difficult for children and add up to their misery. Do not discourage them or stop them from opening up to you if they reach out to you. Ask them about how their day went at school and how they felt. Make a habit of discussing with your child his problems daily at night. This will give them the confidence that someone is at their back through thick and thin.
Make yourself your child’s friend so that he can share all his issues with you without any hesitation. Whenever you detect any change in their behaviour, ask them without delay. It is not possible to solve a problem without knowing about it. Stay in touch with your kids and know when and how they are being bullied.
Stay calm
Learning about your kid being mistreated at school can raise the rage in you to a high level but do not allow your anger to get on your nerves. Anger will never lead you to tackle a problem rightly. Rather you might end up doubling the problem. It is important to keep your cool after knowing the issue to demonstrate positive behaviour in front of your kid.
Analyze the whole scenario calmly and identify potential solutions for it. Train your child to keep his cool and try not to react to any act done by the bully as far as it is concerned with verbal or psychological bullying. In case of physical harm, immediate action is needed, and you cannot wait for the bully to repent and realize his mistake.
Be proactive
As prevention is considered better than cure, the same is the case with pre-preparation before something bad happens. Train your child about the potential bullying situations he might face at school but do not scare him. You must teach him the right behaviour to exhibit in any uncertain situation. Just like you allow your child to take professional help for their assignments from assignment writing service, tell them the sources to seek help for bullying.
Teach him to be confident enough to get his job done without fearing bullies. Empower him to face challenges with courage and deal with them efficiently. To check the level of preparation, you might role-play with them and improve his response. Encourage them and give them the confidence that nothing is big enough to shake their confidence.
Report the problem
Nothing is better than a child being able to deal with bullies independently, but sometimes you need to report the problem. Issues related to physical bullying need to be reported timely to reduce the damage. On the first hand, ask the student to report the issue to teachers. If he is reluctant to do so, or you see no progress after reporting, you must do it yourself.
Instead of threatening the bullies or their parents, approach the teacher and school’s management and tell them about the inconvenience caused to your child by bullies. Reporting is not only beneficial for your child but also for other potential targets. Follow up on the progress and share your feedback with the administration.
Intervene when needed
The responsibility of parents for the protection of their children is the most important. Besides training your children to deal with bullies effectively, know when the situation is beyond their control and intervene. You must closely focus all activities of your child and ensure them that you are always there to tackle the difficult situation.
If the school is not supportive enough to stop bullies or protect your child, immediately switch to other options. Modern technology has made possible online education and distance learning. It is a good option to prevent bullying. Homeschooling is yet another option that you can take into consideration.
Make your children a helping hand.
Training against bullying is not only for your child’s protection but also for everyone else in need. Motivate your kid to be proactive at school to identify bullies and help his fellow students using the strategies learnt at home. They must not confront bullies with an arrogant attitude, rather involve teachers to sort out the issue without offending anyone. Bullying becomes trouble when the bullied is unaware of the right response. Besides reporting the issue at school, it is significant to train children to deal with such issues without affecting their self-esteem. Give them the confidence that getting bullied is nothing to be ashamed of and that every problem has a solution. Along with taking help from some adults, they must also respond with responsibility and learn from it.
