Talk to Your Child About How to Banish Bullying

This post is sponsored by Galderma, the makers of EPIDUO® (adapalene and benzoyl peroxide) Gel, 0.1%/2.5%. All opinions are my own.

There was a time in school several years ago when I felt like my son was the target of bullying. There was a kid he was around a lot who was exhibiting bullying behavior. This upset my son and it upset us as parents. This was our first child so we really had no clue what to do. What we did first was to have my son repeat what he thought was happening. This article about bullying from Scholastic really gives some great advice on what to do if you think that your son or daughter is the target of bullying.

First, our son did the correct thing by speaking up. He told us what was happening and we were able to help him determine whether or not the kid was serious. We also encouraged our son to speak up whenever he thought that anyone was a target of bullying, which he has done several times since.

Next we offered him support and asked how we could help him. We wanted to make certain that he knew he had our support. We then talked to his teacher who was great about sitting down with him. She also talked to the other kid as well. It turns out the kid was just a little unhappy that he didn’t really have any friends and my son actually reached out to him to become his friend.

We were able to turn something negative around into something positive, but my son did all of the right things and we continue to this day to have open communications with all three of our children. We let them know that if they are targets of bullying or think that they are, they need to speak to us right away. We also tell them that if they see other kids at school who are targets of bullying that they need to speak up for those kids as well.

Galderma, in partnership with PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, wants to help parents everywhere banish bullying. The program encourages families to have ongoing communications about bullying and to work together to help prevent it.

The site includes tips for parents such as:

1. Encourage teens to reach out to targets of bullying to offer their support.

2. Encourage teens who witness bullying to be more than bystanders and report the incident to a trusted adult.

3. Know your school’s bullying prevention policy.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA.

Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1‐800‐FDA‐1088.