5 Ways to Help Your Child Deal With Bullying

I know you want your kids to go to school with zero worries about what peers will say or do to them. But, unfortunately, it is something most parents, if not all, think about daily.

Even in the best of schools, with the best of teachers and families, bullying can, and does, still occur. Unfortunately, bullying is not a “thing of the past,” instead, perhaps, it’s becoming more and more common.

Either way, your child needs to be as equipped as possible to handle any situations that involve bullying. It is best if you prepared your child for any situation in which she feels uncomfortable.

With that said, one essential thing you can do is have an age-appropriate conversation with your child. You should arm her with the knowledge, confidence, and awareness of what to do if faced with a bully.

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5 Ways to Help Your Child Deal With Bullying

Read on for 5 tips and tricks that may help prepare your child when faced with bullying, mean girls, and unkind kids.

#1 Stay Away –

The best thing to do in a situation where someone is unkind is to stay away. Teach your child it’s ok to avoid the individual, making them feel bad or saying and doing hurtful things.

Please remind your child that this doesn’t make them any less of a person, and it’s normal to want to stay away from someone that doesn’t make you feel good!

That said, we all know this isn’t always, or even possible. For example, avoidance could result in circumstances that lead to undesirable consequences.

Consequences such as:

Skipping class
Being late
Not eating lunch

In these instances, please remind your child that it’s not always feasible to do this. Keep reading for additional tips that come in handy.

#2 Pair Up –

Bullies often tend to target individuals that are alone. Talk to your child about finding a buddy (or buddies) to hang out with. These buddies should be someone they trust and feel safe with.

Whenever they think they’ll be bothered by the bully, find their buddy! Not being alone will likely decrease the chances of bullying.

But in the event it still happens, at least your child has someone she feels comfortable with by her side. This will help give your child the confidence to tackle the next couple of tips.

If you have a child with special needs you may want to check out the Best Buddies Friendship programs that help pair up peers.

#3 Stand Tall –

Teach your child the appropriate way to stand up for herself. Have a conversation about things she can say and do in these situations.

For example, teach her to say things like:

“You are being unkind.”
“I don’t need to listen to this.”

Anything that your child can say that isn’t retaliating will only decrease the likelihood this continues. It will preferably show the bully that they are unphased by the behavior.

Furthermore, this will give your child confidence, and that is always a good thing! You can practice this through role play with your child to help give her the confidence to use those words. Here are 25 phrases to inspire confidence in your child.

#4 No Bullying Back –

Not bullying back goes along with number 3. Remind your child that while standing up for themselves is 100% a great thing to do. But bullying back is not!

This can be a tough line to help your child understand. Be sure to provide them with examples of what to and not to say. It will help immensely. Help your child identify what bullying is versus what is just standing up for yourself.

#5 Talk to an Adult When Bullied–

Finally, remind your child that it’s ok to talk to an adult when these situations occur. Help your child speak to an adult in a way that makes her as comfortable as possible.

Remind your child that talking to an adult about things like this is not being a “tattle tale.” Again, provide your child with examples of times that she should and should not be “telling a teacher.”

What Other Tactics for Dealing with Bullies Would You Suggest?

In an ideal world, having a conversation with your child about bullying would not be necessary. Unfortunately, though, we don’t live in a perfect world.

It is vital to provide your child with the tools and resources on how to deal with bullying. You are not only helping them with being bullied. You are also equipping them with the tools in dealing with conflict resolution in the future!

What other tactics would you suggest for a child dealing with a bully? Share them in the comments.

You may be interested in these other parenting blog posts we have written:

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