Читать книгу 25 Myths about Bullying and Cyberbullying - Elizabeth K. Englander - Страница 10

The reality: Most bullying is psychological.

Although parents shouldn't exist in a constant state of paranoia about bullying and cyberbullying, it's a good idea to pay attention to how your children are doing socially, and how they're feeling about their friends and peers. Never assume that because you don't see obvious signs – like bruises – everything must be all right. The difficulty is how to talk about these issues with your kids. Here are a few ideas of easy ways to start those conversations:

1 Take advantage of stories you hear on the news or in your community. If there's a story about a bad situation or another child who's a victim, use that story to ask your child about his or her own experiences. Do they think the news story is exaggerated? Is it accurate? Do they see or know about or experience bullying, and what does it look like?

2 Ask your child what kinds of programs their school offers, and ask them their serious opinion of these programs. Are they silly? Boring? Do they miss the point? Were good ideas spread around, or new concepts that they hadn't considered before?

3 Tell your child that you're aware there's a lot of adult anxiety around the idea of digital devices and how kids use them. Ask their opinion about this anxiety, and ask if kids sometimes feel anxious too. What apps or programs are their favorites, and what's fun about them? If they had advice for their younger siblings, or younger kids in general, what would they say, and what do they think younger kids should be taught?

Note: the goal of these conversations can't be to get the skinny the first time out of the box. Your goals are actually fairly simple: you want your child to know that you're interested in these problems and, furthermore, that you're interested in their opinions and thoughts. Don't worry if you’re brushed off at first. Ask their opinion, and ask it genuinely; that's a tactic few targets of conversation are able to entirely resist.