Bullying is something we probably wish we would never have to deal with as parents, but this is unfortunately very rarely the case.

Bullying, in its many forms, is unfortunately pretty common among children and it is very likely that every mom will come across an issue with bullying at least one point in their child’s life.

Many moms out there are constantly seeking information on how to deal with bullying when it arises, how to prepare for it and, ultimately, how to help their children deal with it.

If you are one of those moms and you would like some advice and suggestions on how to deal with bullying as a mom… Keep reading this blog.

1. Encourage open communication with your children

Most issues that arise during parenthood can be greatly helped with the addition of good, open communication. If our children don’t openly communicate with us, and they don’t feel like they can do so, this can lead to an array of problems throughout their lives.

If our children don’t feel that they can talk to us, and they don’t feel like we will listen, they will very often keep secrets from us. They are much more likely to hide things and hope that the issue will go away before they ever have to tell us a thing.

When our children decide to keep bullying a secret, it means we have no chance to help them and things can be worse for them for much longer. When they are able to communicate with us that things aren’t going well, it gives us the chance to help, support, and guide.

One of the best ways to deal with bullying, even well before it could be happening, is to develop open communication with your child. Listen to them, avoid judgement, encourage honest conversations, and so on. Having this as a solid foundation will really help for plenty of things down the line.

2. Take all opportunities to meet with your child’s teacher(s)

As a mom, we need to be aware of what is going on with our children outside of the house as well as inside our house. Children spend a big chunk of their daily life in school and it is important that we know what is going on during that time.

Often, with parent-teachers evenings we get information about our children’s academic performances and grades, but what we also need to know is about their social life and any potential inter-personal issues.

When it comes to both preventing and dealing with bullying, it is a great help to take all the opportunities you can meet to meet with your child’s teachers.

3. Educate your child on bullying and how it works

Children need to have the language to describe to you what they are dealing with.

It might be uncomfortable, but talking to your child about bullying, even if it isn’t happening right now, is a great way to go. Educating them about bullying, how it happens, where it happens, and why it happens can help your child navigate things with a better, more balanced perspective.

It is all new to them, but it isn’t all new to us, so we need to be able to step in and help them with the knowledge we have built over the years.

4. Encourage self-care and recovery

Self-care is something we don’t think about nearly enough when it comes to children. We mostly think about it in relation to adults as we think that only adults get stressed and busy enough to need self-care.

But children do also have it tough. We might not think it, but they do. Being a child can be difficult and confusing, and you go through an awful lot of experiences and changes all within a short period of time.

Bullying can be something that is present in our children’s lives and we shouldn’t ever underestimate how damaging and stressful the practice of bullying can be.

Sometimes if we find out our children are being bullied, we want to race to their school and fight every person there. But this very rarely helps our children, and it is more about us than them. One of the better alternatives to this is to encourage active self-care and recovery in our children if they are being bullied.

We can take this opportunity to show them how to look after themselves when they are upset. We can encourage healthy self-care habits from a young age and install the teaching in them that they deserve to rest and heal after something hurtful happens.

You would be surprised at how much good this can do for someone, especially long-term.

5. Work on confidence and assertiveness with your child from a young age

We need to be able to teach our children how to navigate the world, even the ugly parts of it, from a young age. Teaching them about confidence and assertiveness won’t stop them from experiencing bullying, I wish it would. But, it can help them proactively deal with this if it were to occur.

It can help them bounce back and deal with things without so much heartache and suffering. Both for you and them!

Sometimes we assume our children will learn all of these lessons from school and their peers, but we very often need to step in and teach them some extra material. Especially when it comes to mental health, mood regulation, and personal communication.

If you don’t know where to even begin with this, there are some great online resources you can take a look at for free.

At the end of the day, as we said, we can’t stop our children from being bullied. But we can do a lot to make sure they have every fighting chance in this world to make it out happy and healthy.

That’s all we can hope for.

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