Holland

Children who are bullied are more likely than other children to:

• Be depressed, lonely, anxious;

• Have low self-esteem;

• Be absent from school;

• Feel sick

What to do if your child is being bullied

1. First, focus on your child. Be supportive and gather

information about the bullying.

• Never tell your child to ignore the bullying. What

the child may “hear” is that you are going to

ignore it. If the child were able to simply ignore

it, he or she likely would not have told you about

it. Often, trying to ignore bullying allows it to

become more serious.

• Don’t blame the child who is being bullied. Don’t

assume that your child did something to provoke

the bullying. Don’t say, “What did you do to

aggravate the other child?”

Check your emotions

A parent’s protective instincts stir strong emotions. Although it is

difficult, a parent is wise to step back and

consider the next steps carefully.

1. Contact your child’s teacher or principal.

• Parents are often reluctant to report bullying to

school officials, but bullying may not stop

without the help of adults.

2.  Keep your emotions in check. Give factual

information about your child’s experience of

being bullied including who, what, when, where,

and how.

3.  Emphasize that you want to work with the staff at

school to find a solution to stop the bullying, for

the sake of your child as well as other students.

4.  Do not contact the parents of the student(s) who

bullied your child. This is usually a parent’s first

response, but sometimes it makes matters worse.

School officials should contact the parents of the

child or children who did the bullying.

Olweus, D.

Helen Schwab Foundation. Retrieved August 12, 2005, from

What Parents Should Know about Bullying