This week marks national Anti-Bullying Week 2018, sponsored by the Anti-Bullying Alliance.  As parents, bullying is something that we hope our children never have to experience, but it’s not a bad thing to be prepared.

Here we’ve compiled a useful guide on how to identify all different types of bullying and what to do if you suspect your child might be affected.

If your child is being Cyber-Bullied

There is no definitive answer as to why bullying happens. It could come down to social differences, insecurities or just peer pressure and when we include the pressure that social media exposure brings to young people, it is more present and more harmful than ever.

Cyber-Bullying can include:

• Harassment
• Belittlement
• Flaming (posting insults in a group situation)
• Impersonation
• Stalking
• Exclusion

How to beat the Cyber-Bully:

• It is important to keep record of any form of bullying taking place. This way there is definitive proof should you need to involve the school or the authorities.
• If reporting a bully to a website, copy the site’s own terms of use and identify how those have been breached in your case. This is more likely to prompt them to take action.
• Encourage your child not to engage in any form of taunting or ‘bait’ from bullies as they’re looking for a reaction.
• Check their security, privacy and location settings for all social media applications and block any bullies.
• Make sure you know all of the friends on their pages and remove or block anyone who has shown inappropriate behaviour or that you do not personally know.

For more ways to keep your child safe online, head over to our Social Savvy blog post here.

If your child is being bullied in person

Bullying can include:

• Being called names
• Being teased, belittled or humiliated
• Being pushed or pulled about
• Having money and/or items taken
• Having rumours spread
• Being ignored and left out
• Being threatened or intimidated

How to beat the bully:

• Encourage your child to report any form of bullying to their house master, to their school and to you directly.
• Keep notes of any reports of bullying and discuss them with the school.
• If the bully is a previous friend or someone in the same social group encourage the children to spend time together to resolve their issues and accept their differences.
• Become an Anti-bullying ambassador – https://www.antibullyingpro.com/training
• Build their confidence, sometimes joining a sport or club can help to boost their self-confidence. (Check out this anti-bullying week Jiu Jitsu class that is designed to “help build their self-confidence and set an example that bullying is never OK”)

In an interview with the Independent, Martha Evans, director of the ABA, said: “We are delighted that Childcare.co.uk and The Jiu Jitsu Foundation are supporting Anti-Bullying Week. Self-defence classes for children can help build their self-confidence and set an example that bullying is never OK. This year we want all children to understand that bullying is a behaviour choice, and we can all ‘Choose Respect’ for other people.”

She continued “We need children to learn that we don’t have to be best friends with each other or always agree with each other, but this is never an excuse for bullying or hurtful behaviour. We are urging adults to role model the ‘choose respect’ message and help us stop bullying in schools to prevent it from affecting so many children’s lives.”

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According to recent a survey of Children and young people by BullyingUK

• 57% were bullied on Facebook
• 38% were bullied on Instagram
• 32% were bullied on SnapChat
• 52% were subject to false rumours online and 46% were threatened
• 35% said the social network took no action after it was reported
• 79% have seen others bullied online
• 38% now feel unsafe online
• 76% feel those who bully do so to impress others

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For more please advice visit the Anti Bullying Alliance website here