Listen up this is an important topic parents are getting their kids ready to head back to
school. That’s probably you at
home right.
Unfortunately for many though
this can bringing society and
to one all too common issue.
Well it surveys show that more
than 70% of young people in
the US have seen bullying in
their schools about 20% of
students ages 12 to 18 say they
have experienced it firsthand
that number actually might be
higher. Here to talk about the
ways to address bullying
Rebecca wet field.
Whitfield excuse me she is the
director of residential
services at Daniel,
which is Florida’s oldest child
serving agency Rebecca, thank
you for coming back on and a
lot of people don’t want to
talk about bullying. They’re
embarrassed. But for those at
home.
Many including myself will
admit yet we have been the
victims of bullying growing up
and it’s a real way just to get
in
the way of your development and
your confidence and your yes,
sick book experiencing bully
can definitely Creek not only
in the academic area and.
>> Difficulties in the academic
setting but
creating more anxiety
depression and those are issues
that can go
on into adulthood if they’re
not And we saw those numbers
it’s very prevalent.
Those are just the numbers of
people who admit to sing it
they are probably higher in
some people’s opinions.
Can you do as a parent to
identify this because a
lot of experts will say it’s
not good just to go up to your
child and say hey are you being
bullied are you being picked on
there’s some open ended
questions right absolutely you
want to ask open ended
questions these are questions
that are going to
give more information or get
more information from your
child closed and
questions like how is your day
aren’t going to give lengthy
answers. They can answer those
clothes and a questions in one
word fun right fine, They they
get off their back but the open
ended questions, looking a
little bit
more information. How was your
day at school. Those that are
close and it crashed and what
you want to ask is who did to
eat lunch with who did you play
with her who we want a group
with have you ever seen someone
being bullied
and does that ever happen to
you this is going to the
conversation opening going a
little bit more with more
details and then
when you do get an answer.
Yes, I’ve seen someone get
bullied or even worse I am
getting bullied how do you
address that because that’s
difficult for a parent it a lot
of moms and dads are going to
want to be aggressive. They’re
going to want to confront that
bully or their parents to the
school and that’s not always
the best option right as
parents it’s easy to get
defensive and want to protect
your children so you want to
remain calm and carry us and
that will help them talk about
it if you remain calm, help
them talk about it. You don’t
want to approach the child his
the being the who is the bully
or the parent directly. You
want to start with the school
could at the teacher the
principal somebody at the
school who can assist you and
continue to talk with your
child about it
to make sure that it is being
resolved not through the school
unfortunately we do get e-mails
from time to time in complaints
from parents who say we went to
the school and
nothing happened. You have to
stay involved stay on top of
also sometimes even when it is
resolved.
>> Children need of a change
there is a scholarship the hope
alliance scholarship offer
children who have
experienced bullying.
>> So maybe a different setting
is appropriate but as a parent
absolutely stay on top of it
saying communication with
your child. So you know what’s
going on and also with the
school so you know that they’re
managing it
and we’ve spent most of the
segment talking about victims
of bullies. There’s parents out
there whose own children are
the offenders they are the
bullies.
>> That’s a tough pill to
swallow
it is it but also important we
want to teach our kids
accountability so making sure
that we are not dismissing that
if our child is doing the
bullying.
>> Addressing it there’s help
we work with kids all the time
at Daniel kids who are either
being bullied or doing the
bullying and a lot of it is
education education on how to
handle a motion situations,
social interactions and our and
a productive and healthy way
so we can certainly work on
that I think it’s important for
parents to
not dismiss said are not be
embarrassed by it but own and
help make sure their child is
learning different ways
to attack.
>> It sure and it’s a different
time nowadays with social media
because even if it’s not face
to face bullying you can see
cyber bullying
which is.
>> Just as bad a lot it kind of
not having to do it face
to face, sometimes it can be
even worse because people get a
little more brave when they’re
not doing it right there.
Rebecca Whitfield with Daniel
kids thank you for what you and