One of my biggest complaints as a teacher was bullies. I absolutely hated to see a child being bullied. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening more and more in today’s society. As teachers, it is our job to recognize it and deal with it immediately!
All of the children are in our care for a period of time throughout the day and if I ever saw a teacher ‘look the other way’ at a bully because he/she did not want to ‘deal with it’, well, that was never ok in my book! When I was in fifth grade, I had a fellow student who would sit behind me and yanked my hair. I would turn and politely and tell this student to quit pulling my hair. She would laugh at me and then do it once more less than a second later.
There are all types of school bullies, from the innocent however hurtful words and remarks to the violent hitting and punching. Once your child has a bully in school, one thing should be done. What to do can depend upon each individual case.
Here are a few some suggestions:
- If your kid has someone bothering them, then they can be asked to move to a different table or desk, away from the bully. There are times that the bully isn’t going after one particular child, but any child that is nearby.
- If your kid is being hurt in school, the teacher and principal need to know as soon as possible. Most teachers and schools have a solution in place to protect the child that is getting bullied. There are a few times that the teacher does not have a clue as to what is going on. But if the parent knows about it, it is the parent’s duty to let the teacher know immediately to prevent any further damage from being done.
- If your kid is the bully, you MUST STOP it right away. No child, yours or anyone else, should EVER have to deal with a bully. Hopefully, as a parent, you can get to the bottom of the situation to figure out what is up with your child and why they feel a need to be a bully. Often times, we see a child is a bully because they are being bullied themselves by an older child or even by a parent. It is important to get to the bottom of what is causing it.
