Product Description

Suggests ways that can help minimize bullying in schools by identifying characteristics of the bully and the victim, providing topics for communication among children of various ages, and encouraging schools to curb the problem.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #518368 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From Amazon.com
Despite what many well-meaning adults advise, nothing fans a bully's fire brighter than a victim who tries to "just ignore it." Be it insults, punches, ostracism, or sexual labeling, such misplaced anger requires swift and smart intervention. In Your Child: Bully or Victim?, Peter Sheras examines bullying from many angles and provides thoughtful, practical advice for all parents of school-age children. The study begins with a hard look at childhood aggression. Sheras shows how bullying results from a child's inability to express anger in socially acceptable ways, and how this tendency escalates (and mutates) as the child grows older. When an explosive child connects with a weaker child--one who perhaps has been advised to run, hide, or fight back--the results are quite predictable. Sheras maintains that the parents' duty is not to ignore or belittle these situations, but to arm themselves--and their children--with the means to handle them confidently. Behavioral cues and physical clues that might signal a child's distress; talking points for discussing abuse with children; and guidelines for seeking help from school staff, counselors, and if necessary, legal advisors complete this useful addition to the family library. --Liane Emory Thomas

From Library Journal
Until relatively recently, most people probably believed that bullying was undesirable but inevitable. In this insightful yet easy-to-read handbook, Sheras challenges such myths and presents an action plan to improve the social climate among youth. Drawing on research and clinical practice, he reviews basic concepts related to aggression and the dynamics of a wide range of childhood abuse, from physical and verbal harassment to online "flaming." He then suggests communication techniques suited to serious discussions with children of various ages and ways to foster peacekeeping behavior. Specific tools to use against bullying are highlighted in the text, including coping mechanisms for hostile encounters at school and on the bus, strategies for confronting the parents of bullies, and legal, therapeutic, and community remedies. A clinician and professor of clinical/social psychology at the University of Virginia, Sheras clearly addresses his realistic but hopeful message to parents. However, the book would also be useful for school officials and others concerned about the damaging effects of aggressive behavior. Highly recommended for public library parenting collections, where it would complement Dan Olweus's acclaimed Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do. Antoinette Brinkman, MLS, Evansville, IN
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.