November is child protection month and yet most moms have no idea how to protect their child from harassment at school. Jennifer Hancock, author of The Bully Vaccine, discusses 3 ways parents fail to protect their children from bullies.
Every parent worries about bullying. But for special needs parents this is an ongoing concern. Every day they send their child off to school and every day they worry about whether their kid will survive emotionally intact.
While pretty much every child experiences bullying at some point, children with special needs are at particular risk. We should no longer be sending kids to school and hoping for the best. There is a better way.
According to Jennifer Hancock, author of The Bully Vaccine, the three main mistakes parents make when trying to protect their child from bullying are:
1) They don’t know the specific skills to teach. No one taught them, so they never actually learned what works. As a result, when their kid comes to them for help, they have no idea what it is they should be doing – aside from providing emotional support.
2) They assume that they can report the problem once and the school will fix it quickly. Jennifer Hancock says, “This is a form of wishful thinking. You can’t just report it once and have the problem be magically fixed. Bullying can be stopped, but it is a process that takes place over time. The parent has to remain involved, coaching their child and communicating with the school until the problem is resolved.”
3) Finally, parents try to fix the problem for the child. Jennifer likens this to mama bear syndrome. “Our instinct as parents is to fix this for our child. But what we should actually be doing is teaching our children how to handle these situations for themselves. If you solve this form them, you rob them of an important learning opportunity.”
While it isn’t reasonable to expect that your child will never be bullied, that doesn’t mean we can’t protect them from bullying. To do so, we need to make sure that we as their parents know the specific skills we need to teach them to stop bullying ethically and effectively. Jennifer cautions, it’s important to remember that bullying is only be a learning opportunity if you know what exactly it is your child is supposed to be learning and actively teach them those skills.”
For More Information
For more information about Jennifer’s book and access to free online courses and materials explore this website. It has free videos, and lessons to help you protect your child.