Speaker: What should I do if my child is being bullied? Should I stay out of it?
Dr. Ten Feinberg: Parents should not stay out of their childs life, if they are being bullied. Quite the contrary, children, who are being bullied feel a sense of vulnerability, and pain and what they are looking for are adults, who will understand that pain and take steps to make that difficulty go away. So, if you suspect that your children is being bullied and you have some evidence to support that, its important to contact the school, contact the teacher, indicate that you have these concerns and check as to whether the teacher is seeing these types of behavior that are concerning you in school as well.
Its important that schools to have a well articulated and enforceable anti-bullying policy, and that should be in writing, and that should clear not only to the children in the school, but to their parents and to outside community agencies as well. A policy that isnt enforced is not worth, the paper its printed on, and so children need to know that if they come to an adult with concerns about being bullied thats something will be done. It wont be just glossed over or ignored because children again, if they are being bullied they need to help and support and they cant remedy that situation nor should they be asked to remedy that situation on their own.
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