Dealing With Bullies

Have you ever heard your son or daughter complain of someone picking on him or her?  Many students experience bullying behaviors.  Bullying is just another name for harassment.  Bullying can be physical, but more often it is verbal and includes persistent teasing, threatening, ridicule or talking about another person.  The School Board’s policy addressing bullying is consistent with Floyd Dryden’s zero tolerance policy for any of the above behaviors.  The Juneau School District is also considering Character Education curricula designed for implementing proactive steps to reduce bullying. 

Before Floyd Dryden administrators and teachers can correct an act of harassment, the “victim” must tell us about the incident.  Too often our students are hesitant to share a bullying experience with school adults.  Please encourage your son or daughter to tell us about any bullying behavior they experience.

Sometimes parents tell me their child has their permission to strike back at bullies. Striking back usually creates more problems than it solves.  Students who strike back at school are subject to discipline.  But a student being bullied is not helpless.  Here are some tips to students offered by The Parent Institute that may stop the bullying.

è   Tell a friend.  Ask your friend to help you - it’s tougher to pick on a person who has someone there for support.

è   Walk away.  It’s harder to bully someone who won’t stand still to listen.

è    Chill out.  Bullies seem to target kids who respond to their taunts - girls who cry easily or boys, who have a tendency to fly off the handle, so try hard not to show any emotion.  It’s no fun to bully someone who doesn’t seem to care.

è   Try not to be alone in places where the bully picks on you.  This may mean you need to sit in a different place on the bus or take a different way to school

è   Don’t fight back.  Usually, bullies are bigger and stronger than you are.  If you try to fight, you’ll make the situation worse.  Or you could even get blamed for starting the fight.

è   Write it down.  Keep track of what happens - dates, times, and places.  Write down what the bully said and who heard it.  When you are ready to tell an adult, you’ll have a record of what has happened.

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