Bullying among kindergarten children
Bullying among four to six year olds is more common than you might think. Even in kindergarten, individual children can quickly become victims if you, the educator, do not intervene and act in good time.
"You don't look beautiful because you always wear weird pants." Such a sentence can lead to a child no longer engaging in the kindergarten trusts and that is not so rare. Even preschool children get together and look for others in a targeted manner children out to annoy them. The fact is therefore: there is also bullying in kindergarten. If you, as an educational professional, have any suspicions, you should act.
How to recognize child bullying
In order to spot bullying in your facility, you need to know your children and their play and play Social behavior watch well. You should know who is friends with whom, which "groups" are formed, etc.
- Bullying is particularly common in groups of girls in kindergarten. While boys often resolve their conflicts through obvious aggression, with girls they tend to run subliminally and unnoticed.
- Notice whether there are children who are often lost on the sidelines or who try in vain to be included in a certain clique. Talk to these children and ask about them.
- Always take seriously children who turn to you for help. There is no bullying intention behind every argument. Kindergarten children first have to train their social skills and conflicts can arise even among best friends. It becomes critical when a child is repeatedly rejected or injured from several sides and cannot defend himself.
- You should be careful when parents report changes in their child's behavior. If a child suddenly doesn't want to go to daycare anymore, if they complain of indefinable pain in the morning, this can have a serious background.
Yes, the thing with social behavior in kindergarten is not always that simple. …
Stop and prevent bullying
- To stop bullying, you should first gain the trust of the child concerned. The aim is for it to entrust itself to you. Find out if they are being teased by an individual child or by a group. Within this group there will surely be some kind of "leader". This is often particularly popular, shows great self-confidence and can articulate itself exceptionally well.
- Bring your colleagues in too. Perhaps some of them have already made similarly alarming observations. Also ask the parents of the allegedly bullied child whether they have observed changes in behavior.
- Build the child's confidence by encouraging them to seek help. Praise them often, including in front of the entire group of children. Sometimes it can also help to spatially separate the child from more dominant children. Mention that other children are sure to have nice friends. need a nice friend.
- Then seek conversation with the children who say hurtful things. It is best to talk to each child individually first and then to the group. Explain how the affected child is feeling and appeal for the children's compassion. Ask, "How would you feel in this situation?"
- Always inform the parents of the children as well. They should take time to discuss with their children at home how hurtful words can be.
- Keep the topic of exclusion and bullying a topic of prevention in your group of children. This can be done in the form of a role play, a play or with the help of a book. Help the children understand that everyone is unique and has individual characteristics. The credo should be: "Everyone is a little different, but we stick together as a group."
It is important to take bullying and marginalization seriously from pre-school children and to work against it. At the same time, it is important to strengthen the children's self-confidence so that no one becomes a victim.
