Questions to Ask Your Child about Bullying

Questions to Ask Your Child about Bullying

      Parents and other concerned adults talk to children to make sure they are not having problems and everything is going well with them.  Questions are frequently posed to children about school, teachers, friends, and their feelings.   Bullying is an unfortunate reality that takes place in most school settings.  It is crucial for adults to be aware when bullying and other problems exist. A good starting point with your child is to ask questions to find out if he understands what bullying is.  A generally accepted definition of bullying is repetitive and intention acts of verbal, physical, social or cyber harassment.  Bullies may hit, tease, name-call, or use social isolation to intimidate their victims.  A parent should periodically ask their child questions about bullying to find out if it is occurring in their classes or school.  Pacer National Prevention Center website contains a wide variety of resources for use by parents, teachers, and students.  Information can be accessed at the following link: http://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/info-facts.asp.  

      Children will become accustomed to having casual conversations with their parents about the events that occur during their school day.  Establishing a habit of talking with your child about school will help you to detect potential problems.   A basic question to ask your child about bullying and their school day include “What happened today?”   Lunchtime is one of the prime times for bullying during the school day.  It is important to work in questions to ask your child about bullying that might be taking place in the cafeteria, hallway, and recess or on the playground.  Other questions to ask your child about bulling include, “Did you enjoy lunch today? Or which friend or friends ate lunch with you?”  These questions will help you to find out if your child is having problems socializing with other children or experiencing harassment during loosely structured time during the school day.  One of my favorite anti-bullying websites is the www.stopbullying.gov  site because it provides a researched approach to the problems associated with bullying. 

Stop Picking On Me (A First Look At Bullying)Bully

Bullying behaviors and responses are keeping pace with technology. There is a relatively new app to help parents and children understand, identify, and discuss bullying behaviors with each other.  The app is a great support mechanism to assist parents in selecting topics and questions to ask your child about bullying.  The Knowbullying app is free and can be downloaded at the following link http://store.samhsa.gov/apps/bullying/ .  This “app” is a trendy way to promote a dialog that generates questions to ask your child about bullying. Many parents and concerned adults have become familiar with the problems associated with online/cyberbullying and intimidation through a variety of social media sites. 

Social media and technology like traditional communication contains both positive and negative uses.  YouTube videos provide current and kid approved examples of brief and informative clips about questions to ask your child about bullying.Videos, which explain bullying, can be accessed through the Knowbullying app and on YouTube.  Video clips will help adults and children understand the problems associated with bullying: http://www.stopbullying.gov/videos/2014/10/things-kids-say-help-prevent-bullying.html. The goal of developing broad-based questions to ask your child about bullying is to promote early awareness and provide assistance in preventing the spread of repetitive and intentional intimidation.   Developing an arsenal of questions to ask your child about bullying is a primary prevention strategy that will help keep kids safe and secure their classrooms and schools.