Helping Kids Take a Stand Against Bullying

October is Anti-bullying Awareness month in the U.S. and this year, the conversation has clearly shifted from the victims and bullies to the bystanders of bullying.  While the media and the rest of us have been shocked, saddened, and angered by the extreme cases that have been publicized, most kids will neither be the bully nor be bullied.  They are more likely to be someone who witnesses it.

 

 As a parent, I believe this represents one of the bigger challenges in raising kids. We guide our children through the maze of ethics, responsibility, interpersonal relationships, academics, and physical well-being.  We tell them in words and show them in actions what is wrong and what is right, what will help and what will hurt.  But the hardest moments are when the choices facing our kids are not so clear-cut.  In the case of bullying, since most kids will more likely be observers to rather than directly participating in it, the difficulty is in helping them know what and when to do something about it.  This is especially tricky when the circumstances of who did what to whom are not so clear, when the Internet enables bullying to happen in ways not previously possible, and more importantly, when the cost, social or otherwise, of taking action outweighs any perceived benefit to kids who are bystanders.

 

This is an important topic of parenting that we should all address with our kids at as young an age as possible. Below are helpful resources, tools, and tips from great, committed organizations, to help you and your kids through it: