Bullying: Solutions

Bullying is often a concern for parents of school-age children, and it is certainly on more people's minds due to current events. As a classroom teacher, I would contemplate how to effectively combat bullying in my school. The traditional advice of telling children to "just ignore it" did not seem sufficient in the face of particular cruelty, so I set out to research better strategies. I came across many excellent anti-bullying resources from Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabees, among other titles. I recommend "5 Things to Teach Your Teen About Bullying," a quick one-page read that will arm you and your child with strategies for reacting to bullying when it occurs. Ms. Wiseman also partnered with the news magazine show Dateline for an informative broadcast. There are six video clips from the show, each about seven to eight minutes long, which are available here. When I shared the show with sixth grade students, they reacted positively and appreciated that the content was practical without being preachy. I hope that these resources will also be useful to you and the children in your life.