Back to School Bullying

Going back to school can bring a whole host of emotions. It can bring excitement, anticipation, and even a bit of happiness. What it should not bring is fear, frustration and worry that your child may be bullied. Bullying is a major issue is many schools, whether they are public or private. Facing a bully at school can affect your child in many ways and parents can take steps to help their child.
The first thing parents need to understand is what bullying is. Bullying is pervasive and continuous taunting of a individual in either verbal or physical ways. It can range from simple but continuous name calling to hitting or threats. Parents must be aware that if a child hits your child, that it should be reported both to school personnel, and if serious, the police.
Parents also need to know that in some cases the bullying can take place by using chat rooms, text messaging, or by simply spreading rumors within the school. If these things are taking place on a continuous basis, than it is bullying. A onetime occurrence of a rumor or a name is simply kids being kids. However, a daily taunting of a child by others is a serious issue of bullying, which must be addressed.

If your child was bullied last year in school you should take the following steps now:

1. If your school has multiple classrooms for a grade level, ask that your child be put in a different classroom than the bully.

2. Schedule a confidential meeting with the principal and teacher about the bullying.

3. Work with the school to start a bullying support group for kids to talk about concerns.

4. Remember the school has a duty to protect your child. If bullying becomes pervasive, send letters, schedule conferences and ask the school to be actively involved in stopping the situation. Schools can be liable for damages in cases where they have failed to protect students despite repeated requests for help from families.

5. If the bullying includes threats, prank calls, or inappropriate pictures, you may want to consider getting an attorney or educational advocate involved to help. You may also want to consider alerting the police if the school has not already done so.


What parents should not do when their child is being actively bullied in a school setting:

1. Do not contact the bully or his or her family. If the school schedules a meeting with families that is okay, but do not make a call to the bullies family on your own.

2. Do not expect bullying to simply resolve itself.

3. Do not make your child feel responsible for the bullying.

4. Do not tell your child to simply "toughen up."

5. Do not put your child in the middle of conferences or ask that they tell teachers about bullies in front of other students. Set up a confidential method for this situation to be resolved.

For more information on bullying, please visit the following websites for information:

http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/

http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/bullies.html

http://www.education.com/topic/school-bullying-teasing/