How to Stand Up to Bullies

One of the most heartbreaking lessons that any child has to learn is how to stand up to bullies.

Dealing with bullies has always been an issue that students have had to face.
Nowadays, parents are realizing that not taking childhood and teenaged bullying seriously can cost their kids more than a cool reputation. In some cases, modern-day bullying is costing children their lives! This is because bullies have been far more clever and pervasive about their tactics. In the past, a bully used to single out their target with name-calling and by physically attacking them. Bullies often acted alone.

Today, bullies can gang up with others in order to torment their targets.

They are able to do this with the use of the electronic devices that are so common. It's very common for bullies to use the internet and mobile telephones in order to verbally, socially and emotionally abuse their victims.
In the past, if bullying became too much of an issue for a child, then the child could be removed from a school and make new friends at another.
Today, since bullying usually takes place on worldwide forms of communication, many kids feel that the only way to avoid being abused is by suicide.

Parents simply can't ignore bullying anymore, or write it off as childhood behavior that will go away with time.

Parents need to teach their kids how to stand up to bullies - to prepare their kids with as many assertiveness skills as possible.

This decreases the child's chances of becoming a target for bullies.
Parents might avoid teaching their kids assertiveness skills, fearing that they might be preparing their kids to become over-aggressive. However, parents need to understand that there is a difference between showing aggression and showing assertiveness.

Beyond this, parents need to understand that bullies are predatory. They never select assertive or equally strong kids to target; they select those who come across as weak or passive.
Assertiveness skills teach kids to show personal pride. They allow kids to develop personal boundaries, regarding how they will be treated. These are lessons that are not only important to learn to navigate school, but these are skills that are crucial to navigate adult situations, such as the workplace, marriage, and parenting. One of the most important yet easy assertiveness skills that a parent can teach their kids is to hold their head up straight and look others in the eyes.
Bullies like to target those who appear to have low self-esteem.

When a kid looks people in the eyes, they send a non-verbal message that they aren't afraid of others. When they hold their head up high, they send a message that they respect themselves.

However, there are kids who have healthy self-esteems and yet find that they become targeted for bullying.

What can a parent do to teach seemingly healthy kids assertiveness skills to overcome bullying based upon jealousy? Parents need to have lots of talks with their kids, to help them understand that this type of bullying is rooted in jealousy and has nothing to do with the child personally. Beyond this, parents need to reach out to school authorities and to the parents of the bully, to work together to address the root issues that are causing bullying.
Another set of assertiveness skills to help children stand up to bullies is verbal communication skills. Parents need to teach children to speak in a tone of voice that is even, yet strong.

Parents also need to teach their kids that there are times when the child should say "No!" and the child should it like they mean it. Parents can teach their kids a variety of assertiveness skills that allow their kids to behave mannerly, while sending a message to other kids that they are not to be messed with or targeted for bullying. As you can see it is important to educate you child to know how to stand up to bullies.
By making them aware of what they can do and how they react will definitely prepare them to be able to take a stand.