Parents want to protect their kids from any threat, especially bullying. Before you do anything, consider a few tips that can equip your kid to know how to handle a bully.
Talking Points:
- The first thing to do when you think your child is being bullied is to gather all the facts. Don’t overreact. If you believe your child is in imminent physical danger, immediately contact the school principle/administrator or if necessary the police.
- Empower your kid. When your kids are little and fall, you help them up. But when they hit the junior high and high school years, they need to pick themselves up.
- Encourage your kid to remain calm when they are being emotionally bullied. If they react with strong emotions, they are giving the bully what they want.
- Rehearse with your kid to train them to be calm with bullies. Try different scenarios so that they know what to do when the bullying moment rears its head.
- Bullying is not a school problem, but a human nature problem. At some point, your child needs to learn to deal with bullies because they will be dealing with them for the rest of their life.
Discussion:
- Initial reactions to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- Has your child ever been bullied? What happened?
- What are some of the different ways kids bully each other these days?
- If your child has experienced bullying, what was your first reaction to the news? How was your reaction helpful and how was it unhelpful?
- What are some of your child’s strengths and talents? How can you emphasize those more to “empower” your child?
- How can you go about “encouraging” your child more?
- What are some helpful strategies for dealing with a bully and how can you “rehearse” those with your kids?
- “Bullying is not a school problem, but a human nature problem.” Explain why this quote is so important for navigating this issue.
- Is there a step you need to take based on today’s topic?
