Far more worrisome, though, is that it is often overlooked in the sport arena, by the very same educational administrators that would never tolerate such behavior by a teacher. Sadly, bullying behavior by coaches is not uncommon.
Have you felt that your son or daughter was being treated in a way that had potential long term consequences far beyond the sports field, yet felt helpless to intervene because you were afraid it might even make the situation worse? Has your child told you “just forget about it” even though you see negative effects from the behavior on and off the field?Ĭould there be a more difficult situation in youth sports for a parent and an athlete? Have you ever felt like Dan did in this situation? I am afraid if I say anything to this coach, or to the school, my son will be the one who suffers.
But it is his coach, so we all stay quiet. “I’m a teacher,” he continued, “and if I treated my students like that everyone would go to the principal. Forget sports this is trickling into every aspect of his life!” He has been called things by his coach that no kid should ever be called. "When empathy lies dormant, bullying goes up," Borba explained, adding that coronavirus is "another reason for bullying to be out there.“I think my kid’s coach is a bully, and I don’t know what to do,” a distraught parent named Dan said to me the other day. Our voice and behavior become the kids' voice and behavior, so bullying can become easily contagious.” Empathy is critical "When adults give it permission, then kids will pick it up. Michele Borba shared the following tips and insights with TODAY Parents: Realize that bullying doesn’t have an age limit That attack prompted the national group OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates to call on school officials “to educate students surrounding coronavirus and reinforce or implement preventative measures against race-based bullying.”Īgainst this backdrop, how can parents protect their kids from bullying? TODAY parenting expert Dr. In an even more extreme case, a 16-year-old California boy ended up in the hospital after being physically attacked by bullies in his high school who accused him of having the coronavirus. Parents If you think your child is being bullied, do this a woman serving food samples at a warehouse store told an 8-year-old boy to “get away because he may be 'from China' and (she) was worrying about getting infected," the boy’s father, Devin Cabanilla, tweeted in late January. In the Seattle area - ground zero for coronavirus cases in the U.S.
“Can I ask you to please consider how you are discussing COVID-19 at home?”Įven with schools closing across the United States, kids can be blindsided by comments in unexpected places and situations. children touching our daughter and then pretending she was most contagious during a group game of coronavirus, another child discarding items that were ‘Made in China’ on our child’s desk, (and) adults asking if our kids know about the virus because they are Chinese American,” Radicchi wrote. “Just this week, our three Chinese American children experienced. Rebecca Radicchi, a freelance writer who lives outside Atlanta, wrote a TODAY Parenting Team post describing how her kids’ lives changed after the coronavirus began spreading fear as well as illness.