Stopping the Bully in the Schools and on the School Buses

Bullies have been a problem for years in our school system. We send our children to school to get an education hoping and praying that they will be safe. Many parents cannot afford the luxury of dropping off and picking up their children from school everyday because they have to work. So those of us, whose children ride the school bus to and from school, would generally feel a little bit better about the safety of our children, however, many children are being bullied on the buses as well. Fights break out on the bus and many times nothing is done about it because the bus driver doesn't want to get involved or sadly to say, because he or she is afraid of the bullies themselves.

When children are bullied, it produces low self-esteem in children as well as constant fear. When a child is constantly bullied, it causes them to do poorly in school. They can focus on nothing else but the tyrant and how he or she is terrified of the bully.

So what can we do about the bully problem when our children are not in our presence for us to protect them?

One major way that parents can do to curb bully activity not only in the schools, but on the school buses and even in our neighborhoods is to begin to talk to our children about what it means to respect other people. Every parent must take responsibility and teach their children that bullying other children is wrong. Children need to know that it's not okay to make fun of other children nor is it okay to push them around and make them feel bad. I believe it is vital that parents teach their children to practice to treat other children just as he or she would want to be treated and to understand the importance of this concept.

Another way that parents can curb the bully activity is to encourage their children to inform them right away of anyone bullying them so that the incident can be reported to the school principal and staff as soon as possible because the school also has a responsibility to deal with the problem.

In addition, if the bullying problem occurs on the bus or even while the child is walking home from school, the parent should alert the child's school so that the principal and staff can contact the child's parents.