While it may seem extremely hard to believe the existence of preschool bullies, but sadly enough, they do exist. In a class of innocent preschoolers, you might find children, who are capable of inflicting verbal and physical harm on other children. If your child finds one in his/her class, it might affect your child’s emotional development. Nevertheless, there is help at hand. We have, put together some tips to help you understand the situation and help your bullied child to stand up for himself/herself.
1. Understand the situation
Different children will react differently to being bullied. If your child doesn’t speak up on his own, try handling the situation in another way. You can tell him your story of being bullied as a kid and how you made your way out of it. This may inspire him to tell you about his situation. Try to know if it is just your child who’s being bullied or that the bully has other victims too. Consult the teacher at school and let him/her know about your concern. You can try being friendly to your kid’s friends. You will have a chance to know more about your kid’s situation. Maintain healthy relations with parents of your kid’s classmates. They might be able to help you. Let your child understand that bullies are not super humans and are thus not invincible. Tell your child that bullies are just like the “Bad guys” in movies.
2. Encourage your child
Although it is not pleasant to have your child being bullied, remember that there is something good in everything. Treat this situation as an opportunity to instill courage and self confidence in him. Make him feel good about himself by reminding him of the things he is good at, like, maybe he can draw well or, he has a talent for singing. Once he comes out of this situation as a winner, he will emerge confident and courageous. In the future, he will come across many such events where he will have to face bigger bullies. This small childhood victory will always inspire him to take on bigger challenges later in his life. However, don’t encourage your child to fight. Tell him to stay away from fights and not to accept challenges from the bully. Ask him to defend himself if he gets himself into a fight. You can ask someone to teach him few basic self defense techniques.
3. Strengthen the bond with your child
Make your child understand that you are always there for him. Make him realize that he is not alone with his problems. Tell your child that being bullied is not uncommon and that it happens to a lot of others too. Make him understand that he has always got you to help out in whatever the matter may be. Tell him stories of brave men and women. Let him know that you consider him to be brave. Inspire him to face the bully. Use the word “We” whenever applicable. Like, “We are in this together, partner”.
4. Engage your child in activities
Help your child to make friends. If your child is shy and doesn’t like taking the initiative, you can step in to help him out. Don’t let your child spend long hours by himself, alone. Try throwing a party for him and invite his classmates and the neighborhood kids to it. You can even invite the bully to the party, but only with your child’s consent. Maybe the bully would actually start liking your kid after this. Also, you can enroll your child into activity classes. Ask him about his interests and choose an activity accordingly. This will keep him engaged and also allow him to meet children of his own age.
