Jackie Edwards is a freelance researcher and editor, who wrote the following article. Jackie is passionate about writing on family lifestyle. She contributed many more articles on our blog in the past. In the article below, Jackie explains how bullying impacts families.

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Bullying is an all-too-common occurrence in schools in El Paso. Unfortunately, while the child in question bears the brunt of the pain from bullying, the resulting misery can spread to the child’s family and friends, too. It doesn’t just end with the bully and the bullied. Fortunately, there are things us parents can do to reduce the impact on everyone involved. In this post, we’ll explain how to do just that.

When a child is put under more stress from bullying at school, that extra stress often makes its way into the home, too. This excess stress can manifest itself in a number of ways, such as anxiety, anxiousness, anger, and secrecy. In the worst situations, bullying can even lead to self-destructive habits in the child.

Of course, as a parent, it’s essential to keep an eye out for the symptoms of bullying. Unfortunately, though, there is only so much we can do about bullying in schools. Short of uprooting your family and moving to a different school, which is unlikely to solve the problem, the only thing you as a parent can do is to help your child through the ordeal yourself.

Unfortunately, because of the added stressors of bullying, your child may feel embarrassed or unreceptive to offers for help. This is why it’s so important to foster an open and accepting relationship with your child. They should feel comfortable enough to approach you and talk to you as a trusted friend rather than a parent.

When your efforts to solve bullying problems have not worked, it can feel discouraging and even downright devastating. However, as the parent, it’s essential to set a good example for your children when moving forward from bullying events. Not only will this teach your child how to responsibly handle these occurrences themselves, but it should boost their self-esteem and soothe their anxiety when you give them a calm, composed example to follow.

Don’t forget that the way you handle bullying has a significant impact on how your child handles it, too. After all, your children are always looking up to you, the parent, and they tend to emulate the way you do things. As such, treating the situation calmly, brainstorming with your child on how to find solutions, and treating them as an equal rather than an inferior individual will shape how they interact with others.

As the parent, it’s important to remember that you may not be able to solve every problem your child has. You may not be able to prevent other kids from bullying them, even if you take every step in your power to do so. However, one thing you can do is teach your child how to react to bullying and why bullying occurs in the first place. Children are often more intelligent than they seem and giving them a chance to try and remedy the situation themselves can have more merit than you might think.

Written by Jackie Edwards