How To Teach Children To Overcome Teasing
Children can be wonderful, but they can also be very cruel. It is often not their fault: some receive bad examples at home. Unfortunately, home-acquired negative attitudes cause harm to other children, who don’t know how to deal with them. For this reason, we encourage you to teach your children to overcome teasing.
The first thing to know is that children are not bad by nature. Many use teasing as a defense mechanism, because they believe it is a (wrong) way of relating or because they imitate their parents. Some parents pass on their frustrations and low self-esteem to their children, others are simply used to this type of attitude and unintentionally foment it.
Parents who see their children suffer and go through bad times feel indescribable anguish and anger. However, this is not the right way to deal with similar situations. On the contrary, children must be taught to overcome teasing.
How to teach children to overcome teasing
Listen to them
First of all, listen to what your children have to say. It could be something mutual with another child or it could be just a game. Analyze the situation and also ask the teachers. Getting informed before acting is the key. Encourage them to tell you what they do in class and show them that they can be honest with you.
Don’t humiliate them
Many parents humiliate their children in an attempt to make them brave. They believe that calling them cowards or crybabers makes them stronger, but it doesn’t. A child does not respond to adult teasing and therefore empathy must be shown.
Teach them to ignore teasing
A good method in these situations is to ignore the teasing. Most of the time, kids end up getting tired of their jokes, especially if they see that they have no effect. When this happens, they stop insisting and even treat the victim as if nothing ever happened.
The brave is afraid of the opposite, the coward, of his own fear.
-Francisco de Quevedo-
The ingenuity to overcome teasing
Ingenuity can be a very powerful weapon. Teach your child to respond quickly and with humor, and in a short time he will notice the results. Remember that the purpose is not to make fun of each other because it would fall into the same game. Nor should he respond with violence or insults. Make sure that the prankster knows that the child is not influenced by his comments.
Encourage him to team up with the other children
Friendships are a great way to keep your child from becoming isolated. He will feel protected and appreciated and will learn not to worry too much. This is a great way to teach children to overcome teasing. Also, there may be multiple children in the same situation and they would end up helping each other.
Pay attention to the warning signs
Perhaps what we consider silly is something serious. There are times when, unfortunately, the teasing ends up becoming bullying. If so, the first thing to do is talk to the teachers to express your doubts. From that moment, and if the situation worsens, action will have to be taken.
What if my son was making fun of others?
If your child is making fun of others, you will first need to understand why they do it. There is no need to make a drama out of it but, as mentioned before, to listen to his motivations. He may be doing this to mimic certain behaviors he observes in bad friendships. If so, you will need to help him change his attitude step by step.
You will have to explain to him that making fun of others is wrong. It hurts a lot of people, and it is likely that if this continues, no one will want to be his friend. If he’s nice to others, others are likely to be nice to him too. Finally, you need to teach him that helping others will always make him happier than hurting him.
