At the age of three to four children learn how to hurt others’ feelings. That emotional control makes many people even more vindictive. That is why many children become victims of teasing and bullying.
Children might tease younger kids. This is triggered from the idea of belonging into a social group. Thus teasing is a mean by which the children can fiddle with the boundaries and explore more.
However, as a parent you must also know how to help your child handle teasing. There are many ways by which you can do that. You can obviously talk to your child, sympathize about the situation, teach him/her how to be assertive, practice the art of walking away, encourage him/her to ask for help, talk about being different and many other morale lifting strategies.
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11 Ways Parents Can Help a Child Handle Teasing
Talk it through
The most important aspect is to talk to your child about the issue. You need to assess the situation. Find out what has been said to your child. Also determine how it made your child feel.
Just keep in your mind that whatever is being said to your child might not be intended to be hurtful. Consider having a chat with the teachers at his/her pre-school or crèche. Discuss the issue with other parents, as well.
Show Sympathy
Ignoring the matter would not help you or your child. That is why you need to empathize with him/her. Mention specific things which your child can relate to. This will provide you access to his/her core emotions. But do not become a constant shoulder. In that way you child might not learn to combat the real situations.
Give Encouragements
Encourage your child to play with children who are not threatening or teasing him/her. This will help him/her to build strong social bonds. He/she will stop thinking that everyone will be mean to them. It helps them to grow confidence.
Teach to be Assertive
Tell him/her that it is not always okay to crumble back. They should also learn to say “stop” on instances. Teach them how to remain calm and composed. And then assert them back when needed.
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Role Play the Situation
In order to instill confidence in your child try a little role play. For a change you act like the bully and see how your child handles it. This will help your little one prepare for the actual scenario.
Give them heads-up about actual responses they can give back to their teasers. The role plays will prepare your child with solid answers for the real encounters.
Teach the art of Ignoring
Ignoring or walking away can be a great way of avoiding teasers. Let you child learn the art of showing cold shoulders to the teasers. The teasers would not get their fun and eventually will stop.
Train your child so that no one can get under their skin. This will help him/her to develop proper personality.
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Encourage Your Child to Ask for help
Many children suffer because they are not encouraged to tell the truth to their parents. The fear that their parents might deem the situation to be unimportant tempts many children to shy away from telling.
In case of teasing and harassment they should be able to seek help from adults. Teachers and caregivers are always good options to reach out to. This will also help the adults to gauge the problem.
Get to the Root
Sometimes instead of avoiding what the teasers have to say listen to their comments and banters. This will help you identify the points on which your child can be deemed as a social mismatch.
Being a social mismatch is not a bad thing. However, not getting to know the reason might further put your child in the back seat. Know the cause and then work on the thing.
Set a proper example
Let your child learn about proper human interaction. Be a role model of how to treat people. Try and not expose your child to any sort of violence. That might make your child insecure from inside. A victim of teasing and a teaser are equally oppressed. Setting proper examples will help them to follow adults who are not always angry and vindictive.
Do not Over React
Try and not lose your temper. Listen to your child carefully. Pay proper attention to what he/she has to say. Keep your calm. Let your child know that you totally understand what he/she has to say.
Over reacting will mean that something terrible has happened. This might make the child more insecure. Suppress your natural shock and support the cause of your child.
Encourage your Child to be Different
Having clarinet training is not a weird thing. Or different dress sense does not make someone a freak. Tell your child that he/she is beautiful as they are. This will help them build more confidence.
Tell him/her that being a social mismatch is absolutely fine. Encourage your child to be different and explore their potential.
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Conclusion:
Handling teasing is really important. On one hand there can be the absolute disaster. It can badly affect your child’s character. It can even lead him/her to depression. On the other hand, if he/she overcomes the tension, then your little champ will come out as a really confident person. So, as a parent, you need to be very careful and cautious about the manners in which the situation can be handled.
Reference:
https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/easing-the-teasing-how-parents-can-help-their-children/
