Dealing with Bullies

I was fortunate enough to have made a contribution in an article in True Love magazine (January 2015). In the article, "Get them ready to succeed", Ziphezinhle Msimango incorporated some of my comments in her article:

Dealing with Bullies

"The most important way to bully-proof your child is to build up her self-esteem. Educational Psychologist Christelle du Plessis from the Baby and Child Wellness Centre says, "This will not only assist your child in dealing with bullies, but will prevent her from becoming one. If your child has a healthy self-esteem, she will carry herself with confidence, which will deter bullies as they pick on younger and weaker kids. It is very helpful to play games with your child where you can act out a scenario in which you are being bullied. By playing it out and discussing it, your child will become empowered to deal with situations that will otherwise be unfamiliar to her," she adds. 

Other ways to to build self-esteem include encouraging your little one to take part in group sports like soccer or tennis and leisure activities like joining a local club. This will benefit her physically, emotionally and mentally. 

If playing soccer is not for your child, consider something like Monkeynastix or take your little introvert for speech and drama lessons. For the music lover, take her for some dancing lessons- modern dancing or hip-hop lessons will help develop her self-esteem. 

Sometimes children, especially older ones, may not be willingly share that they are being bullied at school. It is important that you are able to spot signs early. If your child comes home with inexplicable bruises and scratches, talks about hating school or even worse, refuses to go to school, there may be a bullying situation that you need to investigate. Talk to your child to see if she can give you information or speak to her teacher about your concerns".