How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

All this bullying I'm hearing on the news is so upsetting. Will you be teaching your kids to just walk away and tell a teacher or defend themselves physically if need be?

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

DD is only in preschool but I tell her if she has any problems at all to tell her teacher. (there was an issue with a bully kid in her class last year and she knew to tell the teacher and she would rectify the problem)

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

to fight back. and if that means physical fighting, then there you go.

i'd rather my kid be in detention and have respect than have some touchy-feeling intervention with the kid that probably will cause more teasing.

i will also tell my kids if they ever bully anyone, i will give them my wrath.

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

We teach them to tell an adult. In karate class, they are taught to defend themselves if needed, but only after telling an adult.
DS does tell us if anything is going on in the bus or in school. So far, it's just 7 year olds playing around. Not to the level of bullying or anything, but I'm happy to know that DS is OK with telling us if someone wasn't being nice to him. I'm hoping to keep that line of communication open with him. I think if he starts out young with letting us know what's going on, he'll be able to continue that later on.
He is also reminded at school, karate, and especially at home, that he CAN NOT be a bully, and we let him know that some things he may think are innocent or funny, are actually heading towards bullying. Nothing serious, but I want to stop it now before it does become something serious.

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

DS is only 8 months, but DH and I already talked about this. DH was such a trouble maker growing up, and he feels that he just never was told any other way. His parents were sorta disfuntional when he was young, and he never got along with him Mom till long after High School. So we are first goign to make sure that we know whats going on...try to have a close relationship with our DC. So many times you hear parents not knowing their children were bullys when something gets big. Also, we will have them know how to protect themselves. Karate is def. an option when they are old enough. But first would always be to let an adult know. We def want them to know how to stand up for themselves....

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

Charlie is 2 & I have taught her to say 'stop' if someone is bothering her...and then to come tell me if the child isn't listening. To be honest, I started this young bc she was biting out of frustration.

Recently a little girl pushed Charlie out of one of those $1 rides at the mall and she fell to the ground & started crying immediately. But seconds later she literally jumped to her feet and yelled to the girl 'you don't push me!!' I was so proud of her!

Another instance a little girl came up and pulled Charlie's hair...Charlie pushed her away and said 'you don't pull my hair'. The girl fell to the ground and I explained to Charlie that it was an accident & she should help the girl up. She did & they hugged. It was cute.

Some days I wish I could keep her this little forever...

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

i thought we should talk about this when we see dhs son the next time.
hes going to be 13-thats a hard age to be.
I figured we would just talk about it and go over online safety.

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

DD is only 3 and started coming home telling be that a kid in her class pushed her or hit her. It was almost everyday.

I asked the teacher about it, Claire and Conner actually play together a lot but he just gets out of control after a while. They redirect/tell the kid that's not what we do. They taught Claire to "walk away". I know that kids go through this.

However, it didn't stop so I upped her ante.

At first I told her to tell Connor he's not nice and she's not going to play with him anymore then walk away and tell a teacher.

Then, I told her to shake a fist at him and tell him he's not nice and walk away and tell a teacher.

THEN I told her to shake a fist at him, tell him she is going to clock him if he hits her and then walk away and tell a teacher.

I've also told her not to play with him anymore. He's not being nice and she should play with the nice kids. The teachers say he seeks her out-they say he really likes her. Sorry, but my next move is to tell her what "clock you" means.

Message edited 10/14/2010 10:01:18 AM.

Re: How are you teaching your kids about bullying?

I'm still trying to figure this one out... I try to talk to my son about putting himself in someone else's shoes to KEEP him from bullying. The other way around, I'm not sure yet So far he hs been SUCH a confident kid...