10.35 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

‘Focus on your child’s self-worth if they’re a victim of bullying’

Published
By Amal Al Jabry

Dealing with the signs of bullying early, before the behaviour and its impact gets worse, is important to creating a safe and caring school and community.

Parents can help in the prevention of bullying while children need to understand how important it is for them to report it when it happens.

Speaking to Emirates 24|7, the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC) received “31 victims of child abuse in the first half of 2014” and continues to provide help and professional support at a highly confidential level.

Having worked with the victims of abuse, the DFWAC shares their advice for parents on how to deal with their child facing bullies at school:

1.      Talk regularly with your child and with school staff to see whether the bullying has stopped.

2.      Help to develop talents or positive attributes of your child.

3.      Do not assume that your child did something to provoke bullying. Don’t ask, “What did you do to”

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

5.      Help your child become more resilient to bullying.

6.      Encourage your child to make contact with friendly students in his or her class.

7.      Teach your child safety strategies.

8.      Focus on your child. Be supportive and gather information about the bullying.

9.      Never tell your child to ignore the bullying.

10.     Listen carefully to what your child tells you about bullying.

11.     Ask him or her to describe who was involved and how and where each bullying happened.

12.     Learn as much as you can about bullying.

13.     Teach him or her how to seek help from an adult when feeling threatened by a bully.

Strongly advised to never confront a bully on her own, student, Angelica Chand, Canadian, was taught how to protect herself.

She said, ”We had a professional come in our school in Canada and she taught us basic self-defence moves to help us in various situations, if we were approached from behind by surprise, caught in a grasp or being pulled away against our will and to shout out loud.

The course was a trial run but it was so successful that they’ve kept it as part of the school curriculum, I think it’s a great way to protect yourself.”

A mother whose child was a victim of bullying, Sarah B, British, says parents should be responsible for equipping their kids with the right know-how.

“I’ve already started sending my little one to Karate classes twice a week, and he enjoys it. You can imagine what this is doing to his self-confidence, I strongly doubt if anyone would dare to try and bully him now.”

As bullying in schools has reached high proportions, it is considered a silent problem as the issue goes unnoticed.

However, throughout the years, there has been a great deal of research into bullying and experts are unified in their conclusion that boosting one’s self-worth plays a key role in its prevention.

“Focusing on strengthening your child’s self-esteem is vital if they have been or are a victim of bullying”, explains Russell Hemmings, internationally renowned Life Coach and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist based in Dubai.

He added, “Though it may make you feel deeply angry if your child is being bullied, try not to show this and stay as calm as you can.

Talking therapies can help enormously, but also teaching your children to celebrate themselves, giving regular praise for their achievements and fostering a culture of openness and support will help to underpin your child’s sense of self-worth.”

[Image via Shutterstock]