The KMOP Center for Social Action and Innovation finds an increase in incidents of school bullying among children, even of toddler age, as can be seen from the complaints of parents on the “Live without Bullying” platform.

As the general director of KMOP, educational psychologist, Antonia Torrens, points out to APE-MPE, this year “for the first time we received many messages from parents of small children, aged five and even four, who face incidents of bullying at school”.

Ms. Torrens links the increase in these incidents to a general increase in violence and aggression “in troubled societies that have been affected by the economic crisis and the pandemic.” “Problems in adult society, such as domestic violence and poor communication between members of a family, spill over into the world of children and the image created for them is that they have to react with aggression, shouting and violence.”

Parents of children who are victims of school bullying can turn to the KMOP platform “Live Without Bullying” (https://livewithoutbullying.com/) looking for advice on how to react.

Tips for managing bullying incidents

Each case may be unique and require individualized management, but Ms. Torrens provides some guidelines for how parents should respond if their child is being bullied at school. “We give advice to parents not to panic, to talk to their child gently, and to reassure them that together they will find solutions, so that the child feels that their parent is an ally. Also, they should not start a confrontation with the parents of other children, as the school is responsible for mediating between the parents. Parents need to be in contact with the school again and again, and teachers, for their part, need to be informed about the management of bullying phenomena.”

In addition, she emphasizes that it is very important for parents to teach their children how to react in such situations. “Assertiveness is a skill that is cultivated from a young age and of course we must remember that the daily example of parents and how they solve their problems is important,” he says.

Guidelines for those who witness incidents of school bullying.

As stated, during the incident the observer must:

– take action and motivate other observers to take action,

– not to participate in the jokes and malicious comments directed at the person being bullied,

– to keep his cool,

– prevent other observers from recording the bullying incident in any way, and

– notify a teacher to handle the situation.

After the incident the observer must:

approach the bullied student, support him and tell him that the bullying will stop if he asks for help from other people,

to discuss the incident with a teacher from the school.

“Live without Bullying” is supported by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, while a corresponding memorandum of cooperation was recently signed with the General Secretariat of Sports, in order to promote the messages of “Live without Bullying” in sports venues, and with KEDE to deal with online and school bullying of children and adolescents.

At the same time, the European network of organizations “COFACE Families Europe” has characterized the action as a best practice for dealing with bullying in Europe.