While cyberbullying gets a lot of attention these days , it’s important that schools and parents don’t forget about plain old schoolyard bullying and the effect it can have on kids.  It’s not unusual for children at school to be unkind to one another.   As a parent, you can probably remember your fair share of school bullies – especially if you were the target of one.

Unfortunately kids today can seem to be far crueler than past generations.    If your child is the victim of school bullying this could be a major reason why she is faking being too sick for school .  He could just not want to go to avoid being the target of school bullying.

So how do you know if school bullying is the problem?  One clue – does the sick feeling disappear just as the weekend rolls around?    Ass a parent, how can you help your child deal with bullying?  Child should feel safe in all of their environments, whether it’s school or home.

Starting , your child needs to know that they can come to you and talk about anything.   You need to get all of your listening skills ready for this conversation – practicing non-judgmental listening, empathy and sympathy.   Very often your child will be embarrassed  about being the target of school bullying.  The reasons behind it very often sound trivial to you, but to a middle school child, they will be huge.

If your child is the subject of school bullying, you will need to discuss ways to deal with it.  Sometimes bullies need to be stood up to, in a non-confrontational way.  Sometimes they need to ignored and sometimes, you may have to go a step further and contact teachers, administrators or other parents about the issue.  But the first step is often to dive into the source of the bullying and build up your child’s self-esteem and allow her to hold her head high at school.

There can be many reasons why your kid seems to sick for school – school bullying may be just one of them, but it’s an important one to address.   Do your best to be sympathetic and understanding to symptoms of school bullies and you will be able to you’re your child deal with this common school-age problem.

As will as the great resources in the links above, please take a closer look at Free From Bullies pictured below. It really is a fantastic ebook with heaps of great info, ideas and solutions to help deal with all types of bullying!

Here is a good news story of sorts where it shows that developers are also recognizing that technology sometimes goes hand in hand with bullying and its prevention. For a 99c download, it may just be another piece of the anti-bullying puzzle.

Now it could be that they are just out to make a buck as well but hopefully their heart is in the right place and they are actually contributing to helping victims of bullying. And if by doing so they make a profit, well than I guess that’s fine by me! Every little bit helps and the more people and areas that get involved, the better off our kids will be!

Cameron

Bully Shield

By Penn Innovations, LLC

View More By This DeveloperOpen iTunes to buy and download apps.

Today I just wanted to post a copy of a great article talking about a wonderful community initiative set up to add weight to the anti-bullying movement and also to provide support to victims of bullying.

It is a joint venture between the Bond University and Varsity College Secondary School and I am even prouder to report that this came out of my own home country – Australia.

It is great to see more and more attention being shown towards this thoroughly deserving cause. Please feel free to add a comment to let me know what is going on in your home town to combat bullying. Any stories about bullying are always worth hearing about especially those that are making a difference in the prevention and control of bullying.

If you are interested in contacting the Bond University to replicate such an event or find out more, I have posted a link to their contact page at the bottom of the article.

“Never stop listening, educating and loving our children.”

Cameron Abel

“One Goal, One Community: Moving Beyond Bullying and Empowering for Life”

In light of recent local, national and international deaths due to bullying behaviour, Bond University and Varsity College have formed a partnership in the hope to end cyber, physical and emotional bullying.

As a result of this partnership, on Friday the 16th of April, 10,000 members of the Varsity Lakes community will wear anti-bullying wristbands in support of this initiative.

Every member of the 10,000 wristband-wearing populace, which includes all students and parents of Varsity College, Bond University students and staff and business members located in the Varsity region, will sign a contract in which they commit to behave in a manner that will better society by putting an end to bullying.

On Wednesday the 14th of April, Bond University students from an advanced elective subject called Negotiation will be holding a presentation, entitled ‘One Goal, One Community: Moving Beyond Bullying and Empowering for Life,’ for all of the Year 10 students from Varsity College.

Bond University Associate Professor of Management and Director of the LEAP Research Centre, Dr. Amy Kenworthy, one of the world’s leading experts in business school-based university/community partnership programs, states “bullying is a major concern for everyone in this community and other communities around the world, recognising that bullying takes place in every environment – from primary school to the workforce – we are all going to stand together as partners in a 10,000 person strong community movement to eradicate bullying.” The unique, informative, inclusive and positive change-orientated program for Varsity College Year 10 students that sits at the heart of this initiative has been created by a leading group of Bond University students.

“Our hope is that this project will serve as a model for other communities to replicate due to the high standard of the program and the involvement of members from all parts of the community,” stated Bond University student, Sarah Benson.

The program covers the following aspects: real-life bullying examples (including the recent death of Elliot Fletcher), international examples highlighting the extensiveness of this epidemic, an overview of different types of bullying behaviour, examples of bullying in the workforce and skills to overcome bullying throughout all stages of life.

As a testament to the overwhelming degree of community support for this project, local company AAC Solutions have become partners in this initiative by donating all 10,000 wristbands.

http://www.bond.edu.au/about-bond/contact-us/index.htm