Self-Help Bully Advice
How to stop bullies. Experts give advice on successfully "fighting" back.
Bullies have been around since the Stone Age. Despite prevention programs in many schools, bullying continues to be a problem for both children and their parents.
Bully Proofing your kids |
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Anti-bullying tips for parents |
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Did you know bullies have low self-esteem and low self control. | |
Teach your children to look in someone's eyes and talk positively. | |
Use Positive thinking. Bullies hone in on dread. | |
Listen to your kids. Look at them and hear what they have to say. | |
Tell school officials if your child is being bullied. | |
Listening to your children | |
What makes a bully tick? According to Dr. Vincent Iannelli, a Dallas pediatrician, children who are bullies often have problems with low self-esteem. "They may also be bossy, controlling, have a low level of self-control, and have difficulty making friends."
And if bullies aren't stopped as children, they can grow up into adults who continue to have behavior problems. Studies show that people who were bullies as youngsters tend to grow up to have more arrests for spouse abuse, drunk driving and child abuse than the general population.
"A bully may often tease to be hostile, humorous or attention-seeking, or may use teasing as an inappropriate means to make an acquaintance," says Dr. Muriel S. Savikas, the director of California's Counseling and Mediation Institute. "It is an inevitable part of childhood for most children to have an occasional run-in with the school bully."
Although there is no one solution for dealing with bullies, experts offer this advice:
Ask your PTA if they have a bully prevention program. If not, have them get a copy of They Cage the Animals at Night, by Jennings Michael Burch, who travels the country promoting "No Bullying Week" at middle schools.
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