Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me… But they do. Bullying is a problem that goes under the radar because kids do not talk about it or may be afraid, and they don’t want to get in trouble by telling anyone. Generally, children will have some outward signs of trouble, such as: their grades fall; they don’t like going to school suddenly; they are sad, quiet, have stomach aches that keep them from wanting to go to school; they can’t sleep; they have nightmares; the school nurse is calling because of daily headaches. If you suspect some trouble and cannot get the information from your child, bring them to see us to rule out a physical problem, and then we can all discuss ways to handle the bullying.
A top-notch web site with a plan to empower the kids to stop being bullied is Bullies to Buddies, written by a school psychologist from New York. He tells why bullies pick on some kids and how to handle it. It is great!!!! Don’t leave it up to your school to teach your child how to deal with it because they usually advocate telling someone which backfires because it is “tattle-telling.”