Parents and other carers have a key role in preventing and responding to bullying.
Learn what bullying is and what it is not. This is the first step in talking about how to prevent or respond to bullying with your child. 'Bullying' is a word that is used for lots of things that are not actually bullying. These other behaviours may be just as serious, but may require different responses.
Schools can be much more effective when parents report bullying and support their efforts to deal with it.
If your child reports that bullying is occurring at school, or the bullying involves students from the school outside of school, you should let the school know the situation.
Working together with the school is the best way to help your child resolve bullying issues.
Schools will work with you to resolve the situation and will also work with the other student's parents. Due to privacy laws, they will not be able to share information about any other students involved.
This
podcast with Professor James Scott, a clinical child and youth psychiatrist, and the head of the Child and Youth Research Group at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Queensland, discusses the signs your teenager may be bullied, how to start the conversation with them and how you can approach the school to resolve the issues.