The bad news about bullying
Do you ever feel helpless for bullying victims? They can’t control when the bullies will bully. They can’t control the bully will have appropriate or effective responses from school administrators or police officers. And here’s even worse news… a recent study (and many others in the past) linked bullying to more anxiety, worse sleep quality, and higher risk of screen addiction. What could we do to help victims of bullying, how can we help them avoid the negative effects of bullying? [source: is Pang X, et al. Frontier Psychiatry, 2026, >>>link<<<]
The good news for bullied kids
Turns out this study also found that resilience building can help kids find a path towards a brighter future. This gives victims of bullying something they can control. Here are 10 resilience building actions kids can take, whether they are a bully victim or not. Sometimes it’s a person who bullies us, sometimes it’s circumstances and luck that bullies us and pushes us down. Either way, these tips can help us get back up and be intentional about building a stronger mind.
Resilience building tips
- Talk to friends
- Self compassion – be kind to yourself, it’s okay self, you did your best
- Self talk – pump yourself up!
- Affirm strengths/past wins, or look up to someone who went through something hard
- Check off the basics – exercise, eat veggies & proteins, drink water, sleep
- Express yourself – what you wear, what you create (art, writing)
- Learn a skill (stay in school, practice a sport, crochet, car repairs, cooking)
- Help someone else – can be a friend, but also good through a program to help maintain boundaries
- Turn off the screens, the algorithm is designed to rage bait, avoid it altogether
- Find the right therapist who vibes with you for more support if needed
Future sucess
Bullying sucks. Being pushed down verbally or physically is unfair. Watching a bully get the school award for kindness both sucks and is unfair. And we should absolutely advocate for justice. And we should strive to be an upstander, someone who speaks up against the unfairness, and calls it out (one easy way is to say “what did you mean by that?” to give pause to the situation, an opportunity for the bully to reflect and hopefully back off). AND, we don’t need to stay stuck waiting for justice. We can also move forward with the rhythm of life, and stay confident, continue building our skills and connections with others, and be ready to crush the next challenge that comes our way.
Which tip is the best one for your kid to try first?
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