DealDash Talks: Bullies
I had an experience today with my daughter being bullied at the local indoor mall play area. Let’s look at bullying and how you can help.
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among people, typically school-aged children (but can continue into adulthood) that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Bullying can be mental, such as making threats, spreading rumors, or physical such as attacking someone physically or excluding someone from a group on purpose. Obviously these are not good things for our children and grandchildren to be doing to each other, so what can we do to reduce the bullying?
Bullying can threaten students’ physical and emotional safety at school, on the playground, or at the mall, as my daughter experienced today. If the bullying happens at school it can negatively impact their ability to learn, which is a terrible shame if it makes the bullied child start to dislike school. The best way to combat bullying is to stop it before it starts. Parents, teachers, grandparents, school counselors, and others can help prevent bullying. They can help kids understand the negative affects of bullying, and model how to treat others with respect.
If an adult witnesses an act of bullying it’s important that they stop the bullying immediately. The bullies need to be told that bullying of any sort will not be tolerated and that it needs to stop immediately. The adult should then help the bullied child feel safe and ask what they need to be able to make that happen. In school that might mean changing classrooms or lunch periods.
Sometimes the child that was bullied feels ashamed, or that it was their fault that they were targeted. It’s important to reassure them that it wasn’t their fault, and help them think of steps that they can take in the future to minimize or eliminate the bullying.
Consider this your Public Service Announcement against bullying. Talk to your children and grandchildren to make sure that they feel safe at school and at their other activities such as sports practices and at the playground. It’s very important to stop bullying, that’s why many elementary schools now do an “anti-bullying” unit during the school year.
When my daughter feels sad I always like to get her a small present to cheer her up. DealDash has lots of awesome toys that little girls love. If you’re shopping for a little girl be sure to check out DealDash. The Hobbies, Toys, Outdoors, and Games category is located at this link right here. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!
