If parent’s know their kids are being bullied, could they help them make it stop, or help them address the mental health problems associated with bullying, including preventing possible suicide?
The answer to this question is – we don’t know. It seems like it would help. But, not necessarily.
There are states considering parental notification laws so that parents of bullied kids, will be told by the schools, that their kid is being bullied. The problem is – LGBTQ groups often oppose these bills as they may inadvertently out a LGBTQ kid to their parents. And that itself can cause serious problems because not all parents are wonderful loving accepting parents.
WFLA has a good article about the pros and cons of such laws here. http://www.wfla.com/national/should-schools-be-required-to-tell-parents-about-bullying/1030602463
As I’ve said about other laws, legislating more laws – isn’t really going to fix the problem. We need to start teaching kids how to effectively respond to bullying to make it stop. We need more effective processes at schools so that their work helps stop the problem instead of making it worse.
More laws creating more legal responsibilities and more reporting responsibilities may actually make the problem worse, accidentally.
My plea is that parents, policy makers and educators learn the science of how to get unwanted behavior to stop – and then design interventions and processes that take these best practices into account.
Legislating well meaning guesses – will solve this problem. Let’s use science instead.
Sign up for my mailing list. Get the book. Watch the free online video lessons. Just learn this and share this with others. The more people understand what ideally should be happening, the more likely we are to develop interventions that actually work.