Understanding and responding to bullying

Bullying is when someone hurts another person on purpose, again and again.

Watch the following YouTube videos about bullying and what to about it.

Some children may struggle to understand social cues like sarcasm, tone of voice or emojis. This can lead to misunderstandings, which may feel upsetting but are not always bullying.

The Speech, language and communication section can support you help children express themselves, understand others and build relationships.

True bullying happens when:

• someone targets a child they think won’t speak up
• the hurtful behaviour is repeated
• the bully uses lies to make the child feel bad (for example, calling them “weird” or “fat”)

Changing how your child looks or acts won’t stop bullying. Bullies often continue if they feel they have power.

Supporting your child

You can support your child by helping them build healthy friendships and understand what bullying looks like, especially when it’s disguised as friendship.

You can help by:

• encouraging your child to spend time with people who like them as they are
• helping your child understand what a good friend looks and sounds like
• explaining that a good friend won’t ask them to do something they wouldn’t do themselves
• talking about how a good friend won’t get them into trouble, put them at risk, or make others laugh at them
• helping your child understand the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at someone
• teaching your child and others not to be bystanders
• sharing stories about how to step in and support someone being bullied

Sometimes children who find friendships tricky can be vulnerable to bullying disguised as friendship. They might feel these people are their only friends and be reluctant to stop seeing or playing with them.

Research shows that when another child steps in, it can make a bigger difference than when an adult or the person being bullied speaks up.