If your child is being bullied, you should always take action.

Give your child as much support and love as you can at home, while you, the teacher and your child come up with a plan for fixing the bullying. Let your child know that the situation is not their fault, and it can be fixed.

Talk to your child about some of the different ways of dealing with bullying behaviour and why these work. This will help your child feel more confident and less powerless about being bullied.

Some ideas:
•Ignore it and move away from the bully. Encourage your child to physically remove themselves from children who are teasing or bullying.
•Tell the bully to stop. Standing up to bullies in a calm way lets them know that what they are trying to do is not working.
•Avoid high-risk places. By keeping away from situations where bullying occurs, your child can avoid the attention of bullies – as long as they are not missing out on activities because of this.
•Stay around other people. It can help to have others around to protect your child if they are feeling threatened.
•Ask other people for support. Others probably understand what your child is going through and are likely to help if needed. Bullies are less likely to strike if they can see that your child has backup.
•Tell the teacher. Your teacher will be able to help your child deal with the problem, and come up with a plan. The bully might not even know that the teacher is helping your child.

For more information on bullying and cyber bullying visit the Raising Children Network http://raisingchildren.net.au/
https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/