How to Stop Bullying: Training for Child Care Professionals
Resource Updated 9/26/18
Training for child care challenges is an important way to help teachers be prepared for many tough situations. Since October is Bullying Prevention Month, we want to focus on training for child care professionals that help identify and address bullying behavior.
Strategies for Preventing and Addressing Bullying Behaviors, a 2018 training for child care professionals, discusses ideas to stop bullying. It helps teachers understand what bullying is and how it might look, as well as ways to prevent bullying behaviors. The child care training course also gives strategies for addressing bullying behaviors when they do occur for both early childhood and school age educators.
According to DoSomething.org, more than 3.2 million children across the country are bullied at school each year. Because bullying affects children of all age groups, anyone involved in training for child care should recognize it as a serious concern. In many cases, teachers are unable to identify if and when bullying is occurring. Even after becoming aware of bullying incidents, child care professionals may not be sure how to effectively address the problem or how to prevent it from happening again. In order to achieve the ultimate goal of putting a complete stop to all bullying, a well prepared teacher should be armed with the tools to both recognize the signs of bullying and understand the reasons why it occurs in the first place.
In order to transform your classroom into a safe, bully-free environment, here are two helpful child care training methods suggested by StopBullying.gov:
- Establish a classroom of respect: If you want to stop bullying before it becomes a serious issue, transform your classroom into an environment that respects, values, and welcomes all types of students. Encouraging your students to respect and care for each other when they are young will hopefully mitigate any risks of bullying developing later. This method works best when child care professionals effectively model respectful behavior and reward students who follow their examples.
- Reinforce your rules and expectations: If bullying issues do arise in your classroom, display firmness in your stance against bullying, and issue reminders about your rules and expectations. Take the bullies aside to speak to them about their behavior one-on-one instead of in front of other students. By resolving conflicts in this way, you will be showing respect for all your students, while still exhibiting that this type of action is not acceptable in your classroom.
