Bully Prevention Information for Parents
Bullying among children is aggressive behavior that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power and strength. Parents are often reluctant to report to educators that their child is being bullied. Why?
* Parents may be unsure how best to help their child and may be afraid that they will make the situation worse if they report bullying.
* They may be embarrassed that their child is being bullied.
* Sometimes, children ask parents not to report bullying.
* Parents may fear being seen as overprotective.
* They may believe that it is up to their child to stop the bullying.
Children and youth often need help to stop bullying. Parents should never be afraid to call the school to report that their child is being bullied and ask for help to stop the bullying. Students should not have to tolerate bullying at school any more than adults would tolerate similar treatment at work.
Working with your child's school to solve the problem
If your child tells you that he or she has been bullied or if you suspect your child is being bullied, what can you do?
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Please let a counselor or administrator know of your concerns immediately. We can't help your child, or any other child, if we are not aware of the concern.
What can you expect staff at CMS to do about bullying?
* School staff will investigate the bullying immediately.
* School staff will initially not meet with your child and the child who bullied them at the same time. This could be very embarrassing and intimidating for your child.
* School staff will never share who reported the incident.
* A counselor will meet with your child to learn about the bullying that he or she has experienced. We will help develop a plan to help keep your child feel safe.
* An administrator will meet with students suspected of taking part in the bullying. He/She will make it clear to these students that bullying is against school rules and will not be tolerated. If appropriate, the administrator will administer consequences to those who bullied and notify their parents.
* Give the school reasonable time to investigate and hear both sides of the story. Sometimes, a child who bullies will make false allegations about a child as an additional way of bullying them. An administrator cannot jump to hasty conclusions and assign blame without a thorough assessment of the situation. This entire process should not take longer than a week.
What to do if your child is being bullied.
1. Ask your child what is going on if you suspect that bullying is occurring. Find out the name or names of the others involved and the details of what happened.
2. Don't assume or imply that your child did anything to instigate the bullying.
3. Don't try and fix the situation. Instead, talk with your child about strategies to use when the bullying occurs. Ask questions like: "What do you think you could say the next time this person says .....?
4. Don't tell your child to ignore the bullying or to "toughen up." These are not strategies that will prevent future incidents.
5. Don't tell your child to retaliate.
6. If you feel your child is not safe physically and is at high risk of physical harm, take immediate action to protect your child's safety. If the bullying is occurring on the way to or home from school, either take your child to school or make arrangements for another adult to take your child to school.
7. If you suspect your child is being bullied but your child won't talk to you about what is going on, seek out another adult they can talk to an aunt, uncle, grandparent, family friend, school counselor or therapist.
If you happen to have a TI84 calculator around your home that is not fulfilling its purpose, we would be happy to take it off your hands and put it to work.
Please drop them off at the CMS front desk to be given to the Counselors.
