Bullying is the act of hurting another individual either physically or emotionally. Bullying is a school problem that is painful and often times traumatic for a child to experience. It occurs mostly during the elementary and high school years.
School bullies are easily angered or frustrated. They have difficulty in abiding rules and they view violence as the act of superiority. School bullies may target kids who show low self esteem or acts, speaks and thinks differently.
Effects of Bullying
Bullying may result to long term effects in a child. A bullied child experiences anxiety and depression. He or she may have trouble going to school for fear of facing the school bullies. This fear also affects the learning abilities of the child because he or she cannot concentrate on school activities. A bullied child may also suffer from loneliness. He or she gets sick easily thus requiring absence from school resulting to low grades.
Warning Signs of a Bullied Child
Parents must know the signs if their child is being subjected to school bullying.
• Torn or damaged clothing and school things
• Unexplained cuts and bruises
• Few or limited number of friends
• Frequent sickness
• Nightmares
• Fear of going to school
• Disinterest in school lessons
• Visible decline of grades
• Loneliness
• Low self confidence
• Loss of appetite
Dealing with a Bullied Child
When a child shows signs of being bullied, parents must know how to respond immediately.
• Teach the child to respond assertively to school bullies. However, let the child know that he or she should not use violence or bullying in dealing with the situation. Instead, teach him to deal with the situation confidently. Let him or her know that a school bully can be stopped if he or she shows confidence. A better way to help a child cope with bullying is through role play. In this way, a parent can teach the proper techniques on proper communication skills to deal with bullies.
• Develop social skills. A child needs to discover that children are not all bad but he or she can find true friends in them. Encourage the bullied child to find friends whom he or she can be with while in school.
• Give assurance that being the target of bullying is not his or her fault. Let the child know that he or she is not the only person who experiences bullying.
• Make it clear that the problem can be solved. A child needs to know that he or she will not suffer from bullying all throughout the school years.
• Let the child know that teachers can help.
• Praise the child for being courageous in discussing the problem with the parents. This would show the child that parents can be trusted and can help him or her deal with being bullied.
• Report the bullying incidents to the school. The school administrators must become aware that their students are suffering from school bullies and they must immediately act on it.
• In some cases, parents of the school bullies must be contacted to create a plan of action to avoid further bullying incidents.
If you are interested in learning about and discussing social services and social services agency management, please visit SocialServicesAgencyManagement.com where you will also learn about the new ecological model of excellence.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.IntuitiveLeadership.net/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
