A recent analysis of a national survey indicates that families can help children avoid bullying by developing habits of resilience.  The study comes from the periodic National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which asks parents various questions about their children and their families.  In 2016, the survey added questions about family resilience, specifically

When your family faces problems, how often are you likely to do each of the following?

(a) talk together about what to do;

(b) work together to solve our problems;

(c) know we have strengths to draw on; and

(d) stay hopeful even in difficult times.

Parents who reported that their families used those techniques also reported significantly less bullying of their children.  As usual, correlation does not prove causation, but the strength of the correlation does indicate that parents may be able to protect their children.  Certainly, there is little downside to developing habits of communicating, working together, and staying hopeful.  It is encouraging that these habits may help our children deal with challenges such as bullying.

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Debbie Ausburn

Helping foster parents and stepparents learn how to be the person who is not supposed to be there.