All parents
worry about their children and whether or not they are experiencing
bullying. As the parent of an
eleven year-old boy, it is a reality I have dealt with, and I have two articles
to share to help you prevent your child from becoming a victim of bullying.
The Parents Magazine article Bully-Proof Your Child: How to Dealwith Bullies by Stacey Colino addresses this issue in a straightforward and
helpful manner. Bullying is now
occurring at much younger ages, as early as preschool, and parents need to be
ready if and when it happens to their child. Being bullied has been linked to low self-esteem, poor
school performance, anxiety, and depression. There are things parents can do however, like encouraging
positive behavior, to help make their child less of a target.
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Claire McCarthy, MD, a faculty
editor at Harvard Health
Publications, takes a slightly different, but equally relevant, stance in
her article The Best Thing You
Can Do to Keep Your Child Safe from Bullying. McCarthy believes that the most important thing a parent can
do to help prevent bullying is to simply talk to their child. By spending at least fifteen minutes a
day really listening to your child and being aware of what is going on in their
life, parents keep the lines of communication open. The simple act of talking and listening means parents are
better equipped to steer their child in the right direction and possibly
prevent bullying from ever beginning.
Based on
these articles, and my own experiences as a parent, I highly recommend three actions
parents can take to help prevent their children from becoming victims of
bullying.
- Act Confident – Teach your child to display a confident persona, even if they don’t feel it inside, because bullies are less likely to bother children that act confidently.
- Practice Responses – Take the time to role-play with your children and have them practice responses to various scenarios so they’ll be prepared when the situation arises.
- Talk Daily – The best way to prevent bullying in the first place is to keep the lines of communication open with your child by talking to them for at least fifteen minutes per day.
As parents
we have to do everything we can to keep our children safe, both physically and
emotionally. It is up to us to
make the difference and take definitive steps to keep our children free from
the negative effects of bullying.
Mina Lloyd is a parent
and educator. She is currently
pursuing coursework at Coursera in Social Media Marketing
with Randy Hlavac of Northwestern University Medill School
of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications. She is passionate about a wide range of
subjects, from art to the minimalist movement, and you can connect with her on
Twitter @MinaDLloyd.
