It is very hard to deal with the fact that no parent can bully-proof his or her kid. Bullying can sometimes destroy your kid’s self-esteem, making him or her feel powerless and vulnerable. Whenever he or she does not know how to fight back to prove to opponents that he or she has the power to do so, the bullies will take advantage of your child’s lower status. What are the best ways to prevent bullying? The following are some of the best parenting tips to help your kid if he or she becomes a victim of bullying.
1. Find out if your kid is being bullied.
Children do not always open up to tell you that they are being bullied. Nevertheless, their behavior can often alert you to the problem. They may experience trouble when sleeping or even want to avoid school. Some of them may also complain of stomach aches or even headaches. As a parent, you need to talk to your child and find out the main cause of these problems. You may also want to ask their teachers, who witness how they interact with their peers day to day.
2. Encourage your kid to share his or her feelings about bullies.
Bullying may have deep emotional impact on your kid. Finding out why bullies harass your kid. this is the first step you need to take fi you want to help. You can use your kid’s friends to help you find out why the bullying is going on. This will help you make a coherent complaint to the school and ask them to take steps to prevent the bullying. Make sure you help your kid expresses how he or she is feeling. It is important to listen to how your child feels before comforting him or her. If you are worried about your kid, you can also seek the help of a child psychologist to find out what has caused the bullying and how to prevent it. This can your kid feel much better and become more open to discuss the subject of bullying.
3. Build your kid’s self-confidence.
Yes, you really do need to teach your kid how to stand up to the bullies. How can you do this? You can sign your kid up for marital arts, which can help him or her become physically stronger which will help prevent bullying. Most kids become victims of bullies due to their inability to stand up strong whenever someone tries to be intimidating. This will also give your child a chance to meet different people, increasing their ability to interact with the others kids their age in different social settings. Through self-confidence, your kid will develop the ability to resist intimidation.
4. Teach him or her the “back off” script
This is one of the best ways to prevent bullying since it is all about the psychological aspects of both your kid and the bullies. It is important to note the role that your kid plays whenever he or she is facing the bullies. You need to teach him or her how to say NO and stop a bully. You can help your kid to come up with better strategies on how to prevent bullying that don’t result in punching or kicking. This will help your kid to better control his or her emotions without needing to physically fighting back. It will also teach him or her how to inform teachers whenever bullies approach him or her.
5. Teach him or her proper body language.
many kids often become victims due to their poor body language, especially the posture they take when approaching bullies. This behavior shows the bullies that the victim is weak and vulnerable to acts of bullying. By teaching more confident body language to your kid, he or she will gain real confidence and have a stronger voice, which will scare off the bullies who think about taking advantage of your kid.
6. Don’t ignore bullying and take action!
If the above preventive measures do not work to stop the bullying, you will have no other option but to identify the bullies and talk to their parents about how they treat your kid. Together with the bullies’ parents, you can come up with effective ways to prevent bullying and encourage all of the kids involved to get along
With these tips on ways to help your child defend against bullies, your kid will not only develop better social skills, but also better perform in their classes.