Advice to Give to A Victim of Bullying

Our conversation yesterday about advice you would give to your child if they were being bullied, sparked my interest. There were many different opinions, and some of us agreed rather strongly against some of the ideas of our peers. In this article (http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/if-a-child-is-bullied-parents-offer-advice-on-when-and-how-to-intervene/) there countless examples of what advice parents should give to children when they are being bullied. The main thing I learned from this article is that every case of bullying varies, no two kids are the same. I don't think we can generalize the advice we would give to our children. Every bully is bullying for a different reason and every victim is a victim for a different reason. I think to give our child good advice we must know our child, school, and in some ways the bully.  The key to success is to be informed and involved. In the article there are many instances that parents went right to administration, or the site in which the bullying was occurring. There was not a single instance where the parents of the victim went to the parents of the bully, a strategy I believe to be ineffective. In the end I think my advice to my child would be to not retaliate and I would go to the administration and see what could be done.