Bullying is a long-lived issue faced by children in their school life. It is heartbreaking for parents to watch their children go through such a traumatic experience. Bullying is a pattern of behaviors that needs to be monitored with appropriate measures. In many ways, parents, teacher, and school must do their part to prevent bullying.
Bullying can happen on both emotional as well as physical levels. Often time parents are unaware or unsure of their children's life. To know if your child is the victim of such harmful behavior, here are some of the predominant warning signs –
- When kids act anxiously or different than the usual
- When there is unexplainable body marks, bruises, or any physical wounds
- When they are afraid to go to school
- Unable to sleep or eat and not doing the thing they usually enjoy
- If their personal belongings are lost or broken and they don’t want to share why
The signs can be even unnoticeable. This is the reason why parents always need to be an observer in their children’s lives. Most importantly, parents must always keep a healthy relationship with their children.
How can you help your child who is constantly bullied?
Introduce them to bullying. The first step of prevention is proper education. When children are able to identify what is happening around them, they can understand the situation to talk to adults.
Listen to what your kids have to say. Don’t neglect even the smallest of the details, often parents may get caught up with millions of things they have to take care of. When your child tries to share something be supportive to give them a safe space.
Address it to the authority. Often bullying can happen under the nose. To prevent bullying in the school environment, it is important to take due notice to ensure the school takes appropriate measures. If you are noticing signs of bullying, take it to the school authority for resolution.
Empower your kids. Make them feel comfortable for who they are. Bullies mostly target the easy prey. Encourage your children to join activities that they enjoy, it can help build their confidence. When children are in touch with their inner strengths they feel empowered. Help them find what works for them, even if it means taking your kids to a self-defense class.
You be the support system. Parental support is primary in a child's life. Especially in times of need children lookout for their parents. Children who are under constant stress need extra care and compassion from the caregiver.
What can you do if your kid is the one who bullies?
The underlying reason for becoming a bully can be many. It is important to know the one who is causing pain to someone else is in pain too. Their projection of such anger or aggression is coming out through acting out. So, instead of leaving them unnoticed use firm rules while you address the concealed issues.
Children who become the bullies are the one who seeks constant attention, in many cases, the reasons can reflect deep-rooted suppressed emotions. One of which can be them being the victim of either emotional or physical violence. Integrate these questions – How can we help them understand their emotion? Why they are projecting so much anger? Often times there are bigger stories hidden under the rug.
- Check-in on Family Dynamics – It is mostly seen, when families don’t reflect healthy dynamics within, children tend to face a lot of emotional distress. Leading them to behave negatively. Introspect – Are your children modeling what they are seeing at home? Think honestly – are they exposed to any kind of family trauma? As an elder, it is important to do the needful and lead the path.
- Encourage Empathy – Changing someone entirely is impractical. However, we must understand kids who are acting out on purpose are not inherently bad persons. As parents, we need to tap into their innocent side. Remind them everyone’s emotion counts. Help them realize how it feels to put you in their shoes. Avoid giving them punishment that is rough, rather encourage them to apologize to the ones they hurt.
- Seek Expert’s Support – When your child is not able to keep up with their behavior. And when your rules and consequences are not restricting them, don’t avoid the reflags. When things are way out of your reach, seek support from experts of mental health.
Bullying is real and if not checked in time, a child’s life can be damaged seriously. As parents, it is important to notice what is happening in their life. To prevent bullying of all levels from the initial stage is essential. Any form of suspicious behavior must be taken into account. Taking it to the teacher or counselor would be the first choice. Also, parents can undertake the pre and primary teacher training programs as well in order to understand the different stages of learning developments of their child. Parent's active involvement in preventing bullying in schools can help the school's authority to maintain a healthy learning environment.
Written By : Debalina Chakraborty
