Bully Proof Your Kids with Strong Self- Esteem
There is something you can do to help protect your children from bullying: help them to strengthen their self-esteem.
No one wants to have their children bullied, yet one out of every four youth report that they have been. More than 160,000 U.S. students stay home from school each day for fear of being bullied. Bullying is often listed as a major cause of depression and suicide.
How do parents combat this behavior of threats, spreading rumors, verbal and physical attacks, and cyber bullying? One approach is to make sure you are building strong self-esteem and values in your children. Teach them to respect themselves and other; spend time talking and listening to them; encourage them to find good community support programs and activities such as 4-H community programs. If you are interested in finding additional things to help youth build self-esteem, visit search-institute.org and learn about their developmental assets. Search Institute can provide many ideas and resources that can help in building strong resilient youth.
Self-esteem is built by experiences, relationships, and how people feel about themselves. Successful experiences and overcoming non-successful experiences builds positive self-worth. These words: self-esteem, self-worth, self-respect are what we believe about ourselves. At times, they may fluctuate with our life experiences, but rebuilding is important for happiness and success. Strong communities have strong families and strong youth. Strong youth have good self-esteem. It is important!
This article was written by Carolyn Washburn, Utah State University Extension family and consumer sciences agent, Washington County
Find out more at www.stopbullying.gov