Are you concerned about your child being bullied by someone? There are a great number of teens and tweens around the world who have been experiencing ill-treatment by their fellows, seniors or someone in their surroundings. Though, bullying in a friendly and playful manner is harmless but serious and unrestricted oppression can have severe impacts on your kid’s mental, physical and psychological health. Also, it can influence your kid’s behavioral and social skills in a negative way.
The researches have confirmed that the effects of bullying last into adulthood. The victims of bullying in childhood were 4.3 times more likely to have anxiety disorder, 4.8 times more probable to experience depression and 14.5 times more to be expected to develop panic disorder as adults. Parents must be fully prepped up to safeguard their offspring from the vicious circle of bullying in both real and cyber world.
This article provides complete guidance on child bullying and the ways to combat this most common online danger.
What Child Bullying Is?
Bullying is to frequently tease, humiliate, harass and offend someone. It can be physical, psychological and verbal. You might have experienced bullying in your school days when a group of scoundrels was used to tease you for no reason. Your kid may experience the same situation at his school, playground or somewhere else. Child bullying takes place due to different reasons. Usually, a group of bullies chooses a kid who is physically, emotionally or academically weaker. The persecutors aim to satisfy their grudges against someone else.
How to Detect Child Bullying?
To identify bullying, you must be clear what bullying actually is. If someone is used to call your kid from a bad name, that person is oppressing your kiddo. As well as name-calling, hitting, shoving, threatening, mocking or extorting money are also examples of harassments. If your kid is being bullied, you may receive a few hints. For example, if your kid is scared to go to school or does not show interest in speaking about school life or friends, it can be a sign that your kid is bullied. Given are other red flags that help to detect child bullying.
- Your kid returns from school with marks, bruises or damaged belongings.
- Your kid shows a sudden change in eating habits.
- Your kid shows signs of depression, isolation, and fear.
- Your kid frequently complaints about headaches, stomachaches, and trouble sleeping.
If you find your child experiencing any of these behaviors, provide him support to deal with the bully.
What is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is not different than old-style face-to-face bullying. The use of electronic means such as mobile phone, internet, social media, and online platforms to frequently harass someone is termed as cyber or online bullying. The consequences of online harassments can be severe because the bully can keep his identity secreted. A persecutor can misuse Facebook and similar platforms to victimize the target using fake identity and providing false information which cannot be verified in any way.
The victims of cyberbullying are likely to experience fear, isolation, low self-esteem and even suicidal thoughts. Many cases have been reported of bullying victims committing suicide after being harassed via social and instant messengers.
How to Help Your Child Combat Face-to-Face and Online Bullying
Parents play a significant role in preventing child bullying. Initially, it is difficult to figure out harassments and understanding signs of verbal and emotional oppression. So, it is recommended to look out for red-flags of child bullying. If you find any behavioral change in your kid, talk to him so you may know if he is experiencing anything unpleasant like bullying.
The first and foremost thing in bullying prevention is education. You must educate your kids about bullying and the ways to deal with the bully. They must know what they should do to not let the persecutor victimize them. Moreover, your bonding with children must be strong enough so they inform you in case they get find them in trouble. The following points can also be helpful in prepping up your kid against face to face and online harassments.
Ruin Bully’s Expectations
The aim of a bully is to tease the victim and he feels satisfied when he sees the victim giving response as expected by the oppressor. Let your kids learn that they should not behave the way the bully wants them to behave. If your kid is receiving humiliating or annoying messages, it is better not to respond to those messages. However, it is also important that your kids share such messages with you so that the required action could be taken. Not responding to messages does not mean that you are going to bear the entire bullying stuff. If the persecutor crosses its limits, block that harasser or report that person to your nearest law enforcement office.
Set Limitations
Another important thing is to set boundaries and take precautions. The best way to combat cyberbullying is the use of privacy and security settings. The social media apps like Facebook let the user choose who can contact, send a friend request, transmit messages and see social media posts. Yu The user can also stop a persecutor from making harassing comments on a post. Parents must be aware of these settings, so they could help their kids making social media and online accounts secure and bullying-free.
Employ Parental Controls
Usually, kids do not inform their parents about bullying because of the fear of losing privileges. The most effective way to remain informed of what is happening in your kids’ lives is monitoring. With the use of TheOneSpy cell phone surveillance for parental control software, you can closely watch out online and offline activities of your kids to protect them from bullying in the real and cyber world.
Keep the Evidence
Evidence is crucial because it can strengthen your case. It is always a bad idea to delete harassing stuff whether it is in form of messages, emails, calls or in any other form. You can also have witnesses who have observed the bullying behavior of the tormenter.
Get Help
Once you have enough evidence against the bully, you can report your case to higher authorities. Your kid’s school teacher, friends or student counselors can protect your kid from bullying. However, if the matter remains unresolved, you can contact law enforcement authorities to take necessary action against the bully.
Hope this article would be helpful in learning about child bullying and the ways to safeguard your kiddo from this threat. Keep visiting us for more information regarding parenting and child protection in the online and offline world.
