Take your child's complaints of bullying seriously. Children are often afraid or ashamed to tell anyone that they have been bullied, so believe your child's complaints.
Watch for symptoms that your child may be a bullying victim, such as withdrawal, a drop in grades, torn clothes, unexplained bruises, not wanting to go to school, needing extra money or supplies, taking toys or other possessions to school and regularly "losing" them.
Tell the school immediately if you think that your child is being bullied. Alerted teachers can carefully monitor the children's actions and take other steps to ensure your child's safety. Your child has a right to be safe at school and to know that bullying will not be tolerated.
Work with other parents to ensure that the children in your neighborhood are supervised closely and feel that they are safe.
Listen. Encourage your child to talk about school and relationships. Listen to his or her conversations with children. This could be your first clue to whether your child is a victim, or a bully.
Model for your child ways to solve problems without aggression and encourage your child to solve problems the same way. Bullies usually learn aggressive responses from being treated that way.
Help your child learn the social skills to make friends. Sometimes the behaviors of being a bully or a victim are the poor ways children learn to handle relationships. Having friends also makes a child feel confident and less vulnerable to bullies.
Teach your children that bullies are people with problems. Empathy and concern for bullies can diminish their power and keep your child from blaming him/herself for the bullying.
Help your child to develop strategies for dealing with bullies. A child who feels he/she has ways to handle a problem is a child who feels empowered.