How to Keep Your Boys From Being Bullies

It’s an old question that many past generations of parents have asked and that is how to keep your boys from being bullies. Having one of your children be a bully is not something any parent wants to hear. Yet someone has to be the parent of the bullies that you grew up with and someone also has to be the parents of the many boys that are being bullies today. So, how do you as a parent keep your boys from being bullies? Here we will discuss some of those ways.

Your son does not become a bully overnight; he may become a bully from years of learning how to be one. This could be from you or from one of your son’s friends that he watches and copies. This is most likely considered an environmental factor. These environments will include the home, school itself and peer groups. The most common bully behaviors are learned and so can be unlearned. Whenever you see your young son being mean to another child or bullying, you need to stop it right away and teach him the right way to behave. Showing the younger boys how to do this will speed up the learning process. Re-teaching good behaviors is just one of the ways to keep your boys from being bullies.

Another way to keep your boys from being bullies is to supervise them no matter how old. All boys need some supervision and guidance to be shown how to behave. They also need the supervision so that they are less inclined to behave badly in the first place. When you are supervising boys of any age you will be able to catch them at times when they are aggressive and you can tell them why that type of behavior is unacceptable and teach them the right way to behave.

Along with supervision to keep your boys from being bullies, you will also want to make sure that you are not rewarding the bully type of behavior. Don’t let them get away with taking toys away from younger siblings or teasing a younger sibling too much. When you don’t talk about these behaviors or punish your boy when he does them you are letting him see that bullying will give him what he wants, and he will continue with the bullying behavior.

In trying to keep your boys from being bullies you will also want to refrain from using any type of harsh, physical punishment. Spanking on occasion is actually a good thing but using this method too often or too harshly or when it becomes too physical will only go to show your son that hitting is actually okay. It will also show your son that it is actually okay to hit people that are littler than them if they do not listen to your son. Punish your son when it is called for but keep the spankings to a minimum and seek out other ways to punish them without physical punishments.

Giving your son plenty of positive praise will also help you in keeping your boys from being bullies. All children like positive praise no matter how little. Keeping your boy’s environment positive will help them from thinking the world is a harsh place. When you create a positive environment for your son to grow up in you are helping him to not always be striking at the environment first which is a typical bully behavior. Reward your son with positive praise when warranted and keep the yelling or negative comments to a minimum.