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The best way you can protect a child from bullies is to prepare him. Aggressors tend to pick on kids who are smaller and weaker than they are, children who have a hard time making friends or are different in some way. Jodee Blanco, author of Please Stop Laughing at Us (BenBella Books, $15) and a former bully victim herself, describes these frequent targets as old souls who are empathic and are often more comfortable around adults than they are with their peers. And while you can’t—and wouldn’t want to—take away these children’s uniqueness, you can teach them to present themselves in a less vulnerable way.
“Tell your child, ‘You can be scared on the inside, but on the outside be strong,’ ” says Keith Vitali, a martial-arts expert and the author of Bullyproof Your Child (Skyhorse Publishing, $15). Show little ones how to project confident body language: They should stand up straight, speak clearly, make eye contact and try to avoid fidgeting. Then model what they could say if a bully approaches: Look them straight in the eye and in an unemotional way, say something like, “You’ve got me confused with someone who cares.”
anona
Fri, Apr 04, at 11:48pm
All too often the teachers do not acknowledge, that even repeated hitting and hurtful words is, bullying. Many schools adopt the policy that if there is a conflict both children should sit out at play time or lunch. There is also the this desire to have the children talk it out together which is just silly iff one is a bully because there is nothing that the other child could say that would change anything including further attacks.
