The new school year is an opportunity for parents and teachers to put fresh emphasis on bullying prevention by supporting the development of healthy social groups and friendships.
Here are some daily tips for getting the school year off to a good start. These “press the reset button” ground rules also work well at the start of a new semester or outside school hours – for after-school teams or group activities. They work at home, too – anytime you want to clear the air and start fresh.
We’ll post a new tip each day, adding to our bullying prevention “toolkit”. Check back daily!
Click here for all Bullying Prevention Tips.
20 Tips For Bully-Free Schools – Tip #7
Help Kids Build Self-Respect & Develop Healthy Boundaries
In Relationships.
Whether it’s your own child or a child in your class, you can help kids build self-respect, learn how to tell friendship from drama, and become choosy about the quality of their friendships. Encourage kids to have friends in several social groups. Teach kids to stop chasing relationships with people who treat them badly. Tell them to stay close to friends on the days when friendships are kinder and more respectful, and create more distance on days when troubles crop up. Encourage kids to be responsible for and protect one another. When asked to exclude a third person from the group, find your boundary and speak up: “No, I wouldn’t do that to her.” Our goal is to help kids internalize their own good behavior boundaries, which include bullying prevention, whether or not adults are around.
