How can you talk with your kids about being bullied at school?
Bullying on the playground. Bullying after school. Bullying at the bus stop or on the walk home from school.
It tends to happen when there aren’t teachers or adults present…
But now a new study is revealing that lots of kids are actually threatened right in their classroom – surrounded by their peers and their teacher.
10,000 middle school students were anonymously surveyed and the results are upsetting…
28% of the students reported that their belongings had been taken or broken. That’s certainly not a good feeling…
And over half of the kids said that they’d been teased in an unfriendly way at school…
Bullies did much of their intimidating in the classroom, lunchroom and school hallways, the researchers found. Those who were bullied in the classroom felt more threatened and unsafe on campus than other students.
These findings show that it is erroneous to think of the classroom as a safe haven from bullying and to think that more remote or less-monitored areas of school are necessarily the greatest risk for students,” H. Wesley Perkins, lead researcher on the study, said.
Talk to your kids about what’s going on in their classrooms and how their friends and classmates are treating them.
Let them know, “I heard about this new study that shows a lot of kids are getting bullied, threatened and teased in their classrooms. Kids being mean to each other and stuff like that. Have you seen any of that going on in your classrooms?”
Stay open and listen.
Empathize with any stories of their friends or other kids being teased…
Then ask, “Has any of that happened to you in any of your classes?”
While your kids may not feel comfortable reporting the instances to administration at school, just knowing that you care and that they can talk to you, will help them not feel so alone.
Try to keep the lines of communication as open as you can with your kids.
More Parenting Advice: What have you learned from your kids and teens about the bullying and threatening that goes on at their schools?
Kids May Feel Threatened In The Classroom [KidsDr]
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Those are some really good tips! My daughter just entered Kindergarten this year. I never really thought about bullying in the classroom. I hope I don’t have to deal with anything like that.
@Kelly I hope she doesn’t have to go through things like that either. The study mentioned in the article was with middle school students, so it’d be interesting to find out what kinds of experiences kids have in elementary school.
The tips can still apply to your daughter though. Stay abreast of what’s happening and let her tell you stories about how things are in the classroom. If you hear anything suspicious, of course you can follow up with the teacher if she keeps mentioning it, but the most important thing is to let her know she can talk with you about whatever she likes.
Thanks for your comment…and I hope you little one loves Kindergarten!