Cedar Mountain Elementary News

By Patti Machart, Principal

In January our character education lessons will focus on anti-bullying. The latest research shows that one in three children are directly involved in bullying as a perpetrator, victim, or both.  But it doesn’t have to be this way. As parents we have the power to help reduce bullying. Here is an excerpt from Education.com’s actions you can take to help address bullying:

Talk with and listen to your kids—everyday. You can encourage your children to buck that trend by engaging in frequent conversations about their social lives. If your children feel comfortable talking to you about their peers before they’re involved in a bullying event, they’ll be much more likely to get you involved after.

Monitor your child’s free time. Research shows that 67% of bullying happens when adults are not present. 

Be a good example of kindness and leadership. Your kids learn a lot about power relationships from watching you. When you get angry at a waiter, a sales clerk, another driver on the road, or even your child, you have a great opportunity to model effective communication techniques. Any time you speak to another person in a mean or abusive way, you’re teaching your child that bullying is OK.

Learn the signs. Most children don't tell anyone (especially adults) that they've been bullied. It is therefore important to learn to recognize possible signs of being victimized, such as frequent loss of personal belongings, complaints of headaches or stomachaches, avoiding recess or school activities, and getting to school very late or very early. If you suspect that a child might be being bullied, talk with the child’s teacher or find ways to observe his peer interactions to determine whether or not your suspicions might be correct. 

Create healthy anti-bullying habits early. Help develop anti-bullying and anti-victimization habits early in your children—as early as preschool.  Coach your children on what not to do—hitting, pushing, teasing, "saying na-na-na-na-na," or being mean to others. Help your child to focus on how such actions might feel to the child on the receiving end. Remind them to watch their own behavior - that if they have been asked to stop doing a specific behavior that hurts someone – and they continue to do it – that can be viewed as bullying. Listen to how children talk to each other – unwanted nicknames, repeated “just joking around” is possibly hurtful to the child on the receiving end. 

Equally if not more important, teach your children what to do—kindness, empathy, fair play, and turn-taking are critical skills for good peer relations. Children also need to learn how to say "no" firmly if they experience or witness bullying behavior. Coach your child about what to do if other kids are mean—get an adult right away, tell the child who is teasing or bullying to "stop," walk away, ignore the bully and find someone else to play with. 

Teach your child about cyberbullying. Children often do not realize what cyberbullying is. Cyberbullying includes sending mean, rude, vulgar, or threatening messages or images; posting sensitive, private information about another person; pretending to be someone else in order to make that person look bad; and intentionally excluding someone from an online group. There’s a simple test you can teach your children about online posting: if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face or you would not feel comfortable having your parents see it—don’t post it (or take it down now).

Spread the word that bullying should not be a normal part of childhood. Some adults hesitate to act when they observe or hear about bullying because they think of bullying as a typical phase of childhood that must be endured or that it can help children “toughen up.” It is important for all adults to understand that bullying does not have to be a normal part of childhood. 

Bullying is a serious problem, but if we all work together, it’s one we can impact.