By Angélica Rangel
We as parents live concerned about the physical and emotional safety of our children, we try to keep them safe from any danger because they are our biggest treasure. Therefore, we must address bullying in a quotidian manner because it’s an essential safety measure. Informing ourselves about this systematic abuse dynamic will help us as parents to detect if our children suffer this phenomenon, if they are provoking it, or if they let it happen to any of their peers. We will share with you some ideas on how to do it.
Observe your child. Try to be aware of his/her mood and behavior changes, studying motivation, frequency of minor diseases such as stomachaches or headaches. Observe if he/she acts aggressively or if he/she mentions a harmful prank in which he/she was involved and in which any of his/her peers had a bad time.
Be open to listening when your children share situations they live at school or with any other social group they interact with. Boys and girls almost never lie about these topics.
Remain calm even if they report any type of received aggression inflicted on them, tell your child he/she isn’t guilty of anything and that all people should be protected from any kind of violence, use this moment to recognize his/her abilities and reinforce his/her self-esteem. If you notice that your child has hurt or allowed somebody to hurt one of his/her peers remind him that all people should be treated with respect and dignity for the simple fact that they are human. Ask him/her to stop or not allow aggression, and to report to any adult that can help improve the situation.
Advice your child not to respond to aggressions, that when he/she feels endangered he/she must ask the aggressor to stop and to try to walk away and report the situation immediately.
We must seek for our children to trust us to listen to them without judgment or punishment, but we’ll always do something to improve their environment. Let’s promote rejection to mistreatment and discrimination to them, always educating them about self-respect and to others. Empowering our children in a right attitude to denounce things as they are and not to be prepotent.
