Belonging vs Bullying

According to research, the more a child feels like they can connect with their family, their peers, and their school, the less likely they are to engage in bullying behavior.
If they feel like they belong with their family, then they're more likely to feel like they belong at school, which in turn makes them less likely to perform bullying behavior.

Although the role of a bully is often thought to be static, experts say children can move in and out of the role based on time and context, meaning that it's unlikely that a student who is engaging in bullying is just some kind of pure bully and bullies everybody all the time.

Hopefully you can get the time to speak with your children at the dinner table or whenever you get the chance and not just ask how your day was, but ask them specific questions. These are things that will allow you to understand whether or not your child is involved in bullying, either as the victim or the perpetrator, or even if they witness it at school. Social and communication skills are two of the biggest predictors of bullying involvement, meaning that kids that have really strong social and communication skills are less likely to be involved.

From the School’s standpoint, we know that when teachers provide behavior-specific praise, students feel like they belong more in that environment and they show improvement in academics and decreases in other inappropriate or challenging behaviors.

It’s important for parents and schools to work together to support students at home and at school. By establishing a home-school partnership, we are better equipped to improve our children’s’ sense of belonging, thereby preventing bullying.