This post is sponsored by Chase — a strong supporter of the Bully Project, a program committed to ending bullying and ultimately transforming society.  Learn more here.

Over 13 million American kids will be bullied this year, making it the most common form of harassment experienced by young people in the nation. 

160,000 kids in the US stay home every day because of bullying. source

The stories are heartbreaking. Kids being bullied not only by their peers, but some even by teachers.

So, what can we do? How can we help?

The good news is there are tons of great resources for ourselves, schools and communities to get involved for change.

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Bullying Resources:

Community Strategies to stop bullying – Stopbullying.gov

New York Teacher Paper Object Lesson

Anonymous tip line for schools – Safetotalk.org

Kidpower.org:

• Bullying Facts and Solutions
• Face Bullying with Confidence: Eight Skills Kids Can Use Right Away

Stompoutbullying.com

• tip sheets for caregivers and teachers
• hotline for bullied kids
• pledge to stomp out bullying

    

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Help where you can. Use your voice. Be the good. 
Keep kids safe.

This post is sponsored by Chase — a strong supporter of the Bully Project, a program committed to ending bullying and ultimately transforming society. Learn more here.

This last year was my oldest son’s first year in preschool. I was the eager parent so excited for him to start this social milestone with dreams of cute little friends and how much fun he would have. I always pictured the perfect situation, little Mr. popular whom everyone adored and wanted to be friends with. Now don’t get me wrong, he LOVES school and is excited to go back this year, but I had concerns. 

Mid-year I noticed a trend. Each time I would pick him up from school the kids would be playing tag and my son would be “it.” At first I didn’t think much of it, but after a few days of the same thing I asked him about it and if he always wanted to be “it.” He told me how all the kids always said he was it and that’s how it was. He said sometimes he didn’t want to be it, but they would make him. We talked about it and role played a little about how he could nicely ask his peers if they could take turns being “it” because he would prefer not to have that role every time. 

This is such a small situation, but it got me to thinking about what may be coming. Could he be susceptible to bullying or for that matter being a bully? I wanted to know more about what is considered bullying and when childhood banter has gone too far. I was excited to see that there are some really great resources out there to help educate parents, kids and teachers alike on exactly what bullying is and how we can recognize it.

There are so many bullying resources out there, but here are a few I really liked: 

• Signs Your Child is Being Bullied
• Signs Your Child May be a Bully
• Cartoon webisodes to help recognize bullying
• Teaching Kids about bullies using Disney

Have you or your child ever been bullied? 

What did you do to positively resolve the issue? 

Do you know of good resources for those being bullied or for parents raising a bully?

I would love to hear any personal experiences or recommendations in the comments or by email (tipsyblog@gmail.com) if you prefer.

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