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Spot the Warning Signs of School Bullying

Even if you have child who truly enjoys school will, one day ,  tell you they’re too sick to go school.  Of course this may not be a concern occurs occasionally –  but when this becomes a frequent occurrence, as a parent you’ll want to know if if something is up , like school bullying.

While cyberbullyinggets a lot of press now , it’s important that parents don’t forget about plain old schoolyard bullying and the effect it can have on kids.  it’s not uncommon for children at school to be mean to one another.   As a parent, you can probably remember your fair share of school bullies – especially if you were the target of one.

Today it seems as if bullying has grown to a new level of nastiness.    If your child is the victim of school bullying this could be a major reason why she is faking being too sick for school .  She 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.

First off , 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 – non-judgmental listening, sympathy and empathy.   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 talk about 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 dig 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 could be many reasons why your child may claim to be too 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 actions of school bullies and you will be able to you’re your child deal with this common school-age problem.