School Bullying

Since I did a post last week about school shootings, I thought I would follow it up with a post on bullying.

As many as half of all children are bullied during their school years, and at least 10% are bullied regularly. Bullying is torment in either physical, verbal, and psychological ways. There is even “cyber bullying” now, through emails, and chat rooms.

Bullying can have a huge impact on a child’s social and emotional development, as well as their school work. Often times children will not come out and tell an adult they are being bullied, however there are some warning signs that you can look for:

• anxiety
• lack of appetite
• disturbed sleep
• lack of interest in things they normally enjoy
• moodiness
• avoidance of certain situations (like taking the bus)
• drop in school performance

If you suspect your child may be the victim of bullying ask him or her to tell you what's going on.

- Ask your child what he or she thinks should be done. 

- Seek help from your child's teacher or the school guidance counselor.  Most bullying occurs on playgrounds, in lunchrooms, and bathrooms, on school buses or in unsupervised halls, so it goes unnoticed.

-   Don't encourage your child to fight back. Tell them to walk away or tell a teacher.

-  Teach your child assertiveness

- Tell your child to stay with a group, bullies are less likely to pick on a child in a group

If your child has been being bullied for awhile , take them to see a mental health professional. Bullying can have life long emotional consequences on a child, seeking early help can lessen the affects.

 

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