4 Ways to Prevent Bullying in Youth Sports

If you're like most parents, you want to ensure that your child never gets mistreated or bullied. You may have experienced bullying on the playground or on the field at some point in your life, and it's only natural to want to protect your loved ones. While bullying is still a problem in school and in youth sports, you can educate yourself and empower your children to cope with and prevent negative behavior.

Educate Parents

When parents suspect that their child has been bullied, they usually want to confront the other parents. Unfortunately, some parents completely deny their own children's behavior, and this can make it difficult to communicate and resolve the problem.

It's important to educate parents about the effects of bullying, even if their own children are the culprits. Coaches should also be educated so they can work with parents to prevent harmful behavior.

Coaches may also wish to talk to guardians about the long-term implications of bullying. A 2013 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that the effects of childhood bullying last well into adulthood. In addition, victims may experience serious psychological problems, such as depression, loneliness and anxiety.

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Identify Negative Behavior

Bullying is not always easy to identify. It's not just obvious behaviors like physical intimidation or hazing. While these kinds of stories are the ones that make the news, they're only possible in a culture or institution that allows bullying as a whole.

Bullying doesn't usually happen all at once. For instance, a team's star player may tease a new, talented teammate. While this might be subtle at first, other children may join in, simply because they want to fit in with their peers.

What begins as simple name-calling or a minor confrontation can escalate into a group-based trend that targets a single person. In order to stop bullying, coaches, parents and children need to learn to recognize these behaviors.

More: How to Stop a Bullying Coach

Learn the Risk Factors

While anyone can take part in bullying, studies indicate that the instigators often share common risk factors. Although children are encouraged to make friends and form peer groups, kids who have a tendency to exclude others are more likely to isolate and ignore victims in a negative way.

Coaches may not have the knowledge and experience needed to identify bullying behaviors, but parents can often spot the signs. Bullies may make frequent negative comments about others or use aggression and violence to solve their problems, and some bullies may have temper issues.

Bullying often originates at home. Children with mean or abusive parents or siblings may treat their peers in the same way. To prevent this behavior, it's critical that parents set a positive example at home.

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Encourage Open Communication

It's not always easy to prevent bullying because some of the behaviors are natural human tendencies. Numerous assessments have shown that bullies gain support from peers who simply go along with their actions.

Parents and guardians need to be proactive and address these behaviors before they escalate or get out of hand. Children who are bullied often feel that they can't talk to anyone about their situation, so make sure to encourage open and honest communication with your kids.

Being proactive also gives adults a chance to teach children how to respond to bullying. Bullies lose strength when they don't have support from their peer group. Many of the negative effects of bullying can be mitigated if children refuse to participate. It's best to instill a sense of right and wrong and implement zero-tolerance rules around unacceptable conduct, this will also motivate your child to stand up against bad behavior.

Give Kids Better Options

If you suspect that your child is being bullied, you can teach him or her how to confront a bully through open communication. In some cases, simply asking an offender to stop is an effective way to put an end to their behavior.

Finally, one of the best ways to deal with bullying is to help kids discover healthy alternatives. Coaches who teach kids to work together by rewarding them for positive performance in group-based activities can unify teams and reduce negative incidents. Coaches and parents can help children overcome bullying by working together to discourage ongoing teasing and establishing a culture of cooperation.

More: How to Help Kids Develop Basic Athletic Skills

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