Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/teasing-bullying-and-being-left-out/5021080/
We talk to our children about differences. We support them in developing positive feelings about themselves and others. We carefully teach them to ‘use their words.’ However, even though we know that someday they are likely to encounter teasing and bullying we do little to prepare them. Perhaps they will be teased and bullied; perhaps they will tease, bully, or exclude others, or maybe they will just stand silently by and watch others deal with these issues. Regardless of their role (and most children will play all three) teasing and bullying can have serious consequences for children and they need our help to learn how to handle them effectively.“Don’t tattle,” “Be nice,” and “Use your words” aren’t enough to help children when they are faced with a complex world of friendship, teasing, bullying, and bias. Teasing, bullying, and being excluded from friendship groups aren’t childhood traumas soon recovered from and soon forgotten. Children who are teased, bullied, or chronically excluded are more likely to skip school, have lower grades, drop out of school or even contemplate suicide (California Healthy Kids study, 2002). When the teasing, bullying, or exclusion is based on a societal bias such as race, religion, or ...