We had a great day supporting Pink Shirt Day at school today. So many children and parents were wearing pink to show that bullying is not something we accept as part of life.
The statistics on bullying are terrifying. Bullying is leading to long term mental health and self harming problems amongst our vulnerable tamariki and rangatahi.
Bullying is relentless. It is not as simple as name calling or excluding children from a game. It is long term, prolonged and relentless. It is usually aimed at children who are a little different from the run of the mill, and the very differences that make us special and unique become cruel separation.
Bullying is not something children can stand up to. They need the trusted grown ups in their lives to love them unconditionally and to protect them. Research shows that the most effective protection against bullying is to make sure that what we think about our children, matters more than what their peers think. Online bullying and the vicious attacks by keyboard warriors against others, has become a world wide pattern of behaviour. You can help to protect your children from bullies by:
- monitoring and limiting their online time
- spending time with your children
- checking out who they are playing with and where they are playing
- making sure that your opinion matters more than that of social media and friends
- saying "no" when you feel that something just isn't right for your child
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