If you have ever dealt with bullying before, you know how dangerous and painful it can be. No one wants their child bullied, which is why it is important to stop and prevent any potential bullying situations as soon as you see them unfolding. If you are unsure about how to go about this, take a look below at 25 ways to stop and prevent a bully, so you can stop the behavior in its tracks and help your child enjoy the peaceful school year he or she deserves.
25 Ways to Stop and Prevent a Bully
For parents:
1. Don’t use the motto that kids will be kids. Take all reports of bullying seriously by listening to any complaints, looking into them, and following through with some action.
2. Ask your school for a copy of their bullying policy. Don’t be afraid to refer to it when needed.
3. Get to know the parents of your child’s peers. The parents of your kid’s friends can be a good indication of whether or not their kid is a good fit for your kids. If the parents don’t tolerate bullying or rude behavior chances are their kids will know the consequences of acting out and bullying other kids.
4. Ask your child’s teacher what the protocol is when children are experiencing bullying and come to them with an issue. Let your child know that you are familiar with this protocol so there is a school/home connection.
5. Volunteer in the classroom so you can get to know the children and they can get to know you. Bullies are less likely to act if they know a caring adult is on the scene and active in the child’s life.
6. Get to know the support staff at your child’s school such as the school nurse and counselor. This will make communication easier if you run into any issues.
7. Come up with a protocol for your family to use if anyone is ever bothered or threatened by a bully. Review this protocol often. Does your child have a phone? Let them know it is acceptable to text or call when there is an emergency. Let your kids know what actions to take when they are being threatened or bullied.
8. Encourage your child to talk to you about their friends. Encourage positive friendships and praise positive friendship choices. These friends can all be allies when a bully situation happens.
9. Know your rights. Know when bullying becomes more than playful teasing and crosses over into criminal behavior territory. And don’t hesitate to follow through with authorities when necessary.
10. Enjoy child friendly, bully themed books with your child to help them identify bullying situations and how to deal with them.
For kids:
11. Don’t hesitate to report bullying. Go to an adult you trust as soon as bullying occurs.
12. Get familiar with other support staff in the school. Not all bullying occurs in the classroom, so know who else you can go to should a situation occur.
13. Don’t fight bullying with bullying. Abusing the bully back will never get the situation under control.
1 4. Role play bullying situations so when and if they happen, you will have had practice with dealing with them.
15. Have a friend or peer with you at all times. Children are less likely to be bullied when they are with a friend of group of friends to act as witnesses.
16. Avoid social media chat rooms and venues where online bullying can occur. Bullies tend to be braver behind a computer screen.
17. If you see someone else being bullied, don’t be afraid to speak up. Tell an adult you trust as soon as possible.
18. Think about how it would feel to be bullied. Putting yourself in the shoes of someone being bullied can keep you from becoming a bully yourself.
19. Create a bully free classroom. Vow to not allow bullying in your classroom. Create signs or posters to display your message.
20. Use only positive talk. Focus on building each other up, and never down.
21. Don’t be scared into silence. Know that no one has the right to bully you and that speaking up is the only way to prevent it.
For teachers:
22. Have a bully box, a shoe box that students can privately turn bullying complaints into.
23. Give parents a work email and work phone number that can be used to report any bullying issues and keep the lines of communication open
.24. Always follow through with bullying complaints and provide parents with a follow up to your investigation.
25. Make bullying a part of the daily lessons. Discuss how to develop positive friendships and avoid tearing others down.
Bullying is a painful part of growing up, but with these tips you can help confront the issue head on and hopefully eliminate it before it gets out of control. Give these tips for stopping and preventing a bully a try and see if they don’t offer some relief.
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Alli says
Kids, teachers and parents need to read this and print the list. We all have to work together to stop the bullying.
CYNTHIA NICOLETTI says
Bullying is horrible. I have seen it in my children’s school. As a parent if you child is being bullied you must put a stop to it. It could lead to worse problems. Tell the teacher approach the parent !!
Miranda (Myrabev) says
It is a scary world out there when you think about it, back in the day bullying was ‘in person’ so to speak now its gone electronic and its really scary
Amanda says
This is a really great post because so many people don’t really know how to handle situations like this. It is so incredibly important to speak up and work together to find a solution–no one wants to be a bully, either.
Leira says
These are great tips for the children, the parents and the teachers as well. Sometimes everyone is at a loss on how to handle the situation so this is a great guideline,
Liz Mays says
Talking about it with the kids seems to be one of the most important things. It’s good to teach empathy at an early age.
Jaime Nicole says
I don’t remember anyone being especially concerned about this when I was in school. It’s good to see that there is a push to make those vulnerable years more bearable.
Stephanie of The TipToe Fairy says
These are great tips. I teach my kids all the time to stand up to bullies especially if they see someone else getting bullied.
Nikki says
This is really big issue now, all parents should read this to protect/prevent a bully. Thanks for the great tips. I’ll share it to my friends too.
April @ Everyday Fitness and Nutrition says
It’s alarming about the amount of bullying that goes on. A lot of it happens online too so it’s not as obvious. It’s helpful to have an open relationship with your kids to discuss this kind of stuff.
NYC SingleMom says
I really like these tips especially since my daughter is in middle school. My daughter’s school takes it pretty seriously. Sadly when the kids get to MS its so much harder to get to know the kids and parents. But I do volunteer as much as I can so I can get to know the kids.
ashley says
These are such great tips. We don’t have kids yet, but I know this will be an important lesson that we teach them when we do.
Jeanine says
These are all great. Bullying is a HUGE issue, and I find not a lot is done about it so I try to prevent it as much as possible from happening to my kids, but other parents need to deal with it and do the same.
Rebecca Swenor says
These are great ways for anyone to prevent a bully from bullying. It is so important for us as parents or persons dealing with our children to make sure the kids know the preventive measures to take when dealing with a bully. Thanks for sharing.
Chantal says
Thank you so much for creating this post! With school starting soon it is crucial that there is information out there to help prevent bullying!
Carin Kilby Clark says
These are great tips! It’s so important to take bullying seriously and react appropriately. I’ve dealt with some bullying with both my daughter and younger son but handling it appropriately put a stop to the issues and thankfully everything is fine now.
ricci says
These are great tips for preventing bullying. People can be so mean these days, especially online.
Rosey says
The tip about not being scared into silence is a great one. Silence is going to encourage the bully because they think they’re getting over.