What Would You Do Wednesday? BULLIES!
Think back to a time when you walked the hallways of your school as a youth - I'm sure you can remember a rude look, sideways glance, or outward comment directed at you every once in awhile. Now, imagine how you would feel if you had that experience every day due to having some type of special need. Most of the time, people do not mean to be mean - but we all know that children can be especially mean to other children – they can be especially nice too -but I will save that for another post! When kids are mean or act like bullies - and it affects the children in your life - you are bound to be frustrated and hurt for them or for yourself.
What can be done?
We can try to prepare our children in our lives for the inevitable and try to give them the tools to handle it – but that will not always work. What if your child is non-verbal or what if they cannot stand up for themselves for whatever reason.
How do we address this issue as parents, siblings, friends, teachers and family of children who have special needs? How do we help our children? Do we try to educate the students/friends directly? If there is a problem with a particular child – would you address the parent of that child?
Tell us, what you would do! Let's talk about it in the comments section.
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4 comments:
This is a hard one! I worry about this for my daughter, who is non-verbal, and has no way to stand up for herself or to defend herself.
I feed my daughter's self-esteem, so she will feel good about herself. I set her up for success, and she loves when she can accomplish something.
I also try to be the ice breaker whenever we are in some situations. I try to tell the other kids some things about Gracie and make them feel comfortable. This usually works.
I tell my son that there are going to be moments when people may stare or be rude to Gracie, but that we have to handle it correctly. Usually by simply saying hello to someone will make them aware that they were being rude.
Once, when we were at the public library, there were two people who were laughing at Gracie everytime she made a noise. I didn't know what to do, so we just left. The kids didn't notice it, thankfully. I was really caught off guard, and struggled with what to do.
As I said, this is a hard one, and I just try to handle it as best I can in each moment.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with Gracie. Sounds like you are one great mom!
There are two great resources to help learn about the effects of bullying with children and also to help end bullying among children and teens. I highly recommend the information provided by both SueScheff.com and MicheleBorba.com
Love your new website!
Louise Sattler
Host of Learning and Laughter with Louise!
http://toginet.com/shows/learningandlaughterwithlouise
Thanks Louise for the great resources!
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