Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. If a child threatens severe bodily harm to your child a parent or teacher should be told. However, in the case of simple name calling and such, we have taught our two boys to stand up for themselves. Unfortunately, if a child doesn't, they can remain a constant target. A parent needs to teach a child never to instigate a fight, but if someone says something to you, you say something back. If someone pushes you, you push them back harder and if someone punches you, you punch them back harder. My one child had to stand up for himself in his first year of Middle School and followed our advice. The other child immediately backed down and that was the end of it. He's never been in that situation since, and even though he was petrified at the time, the confidence he gained (which reflects back to others) was tremendous. He knows no one deserves to be bullied. I don't condone fighting (it's a last resort), but children need to have respect for themselves in order to respect others. That's why the bottled up ones explode later in life these days.

I feel that bullying is an ugly problem that some teachers try to scoff off and look at it as kids being kids. But I find it to be a very dangerous thing. There are some children that grew up being violent and mean due to their exposure, it they take it our on other children. I strongly suggest that you teach your child to stand up for him or herself. Walking away is always best, but once a bully realizes that the person they pick on is a push over, they will continue to hurt him or her. My son is now 16 and I have a daughter that is 10 and they both experienced the "Mean Kid" episodes. It was very ugly, because they would cry and be afraid, but once we taught them how to stand up for themselves, SPEAK UP & SPEAK OUT, they had no more problems. A child should never be afraid to stand up for themselves, and should never be afraid of telling parents and teachers that they are having problems. Teachers should never scoff children off and ingnore mean behavior of other children. Walking away from mean children is a solution but fear within your own child is not an option, because your child has the right to be comfortable and feel safe in their environment, rather it is daycare, headstart, or elementary school.

Communication and observance is key, also be aware of your child to see if they are adopting the ugly behaviors of meaness from other children. Strength and Respect.

Wow I have a 7 year old child but she did not go in that but my oldst(11). Has ADHD So some times she gets teased like called nerd ang geek. What you should teach him is what the Bully rules are.
But out of trouble
U should be strong and talk to a teacher
Let him not make you feel bad
Loser is not a word
You should ignore him
My 9 year old told me that.

Talk to your child school counselor and together you both can advise your child in a way that is comfortable for your child.

Ask him about what the mean kids said to him and then teach him ways to respond to it. Teach him to use his words like "I don't like it when you.... it hurts my feelings." I have 3 school-age kids of my own, I borrowed kid's books about bullying from the library. It helped me teach my kids to become aware of how some kids become bullies, and how to deal with them.

You might want to repost your question in Greatschools Prevent Bullying Group at community.greatschools.net/groups/11560