What do you tell your DCs about 'bullies' in the park?

[TheNewandImprovedMrsHollywood]

The word 'bullies' is a bit harsh, really - I mean those kids that call people names or dont let them get on the swings.

This afternoon at the park, DS (3.8yo) was scooting around and I saw him stop to talk to a couple of boys a year older than him. I was watching but couldn't hear them. After a few seconds, I saw one of them push his scooter away from him so I went over. DS said the boys had called him a baby - I looked at the boys as I said "of course you're not a baby, you're a boy the same as them - they are obviously a bit silly". The boys laughed at me and went off. We were going home then anyway, so we just left.

I talked to DS about it and he said again how they'd just called him a baby and pushed his scooter away from him. I just said not to talk to boys if they weren't nice and reminded him that he always needed to be nice, too.

Obviously, at the moment, DS will only be in the park with me or another adult, so I keep an eye on him - but as he grows up, goes to school etc, he'll come across this sort of thing, I guess. Today didn't particularly distress him but what do I say to him about things like this to ensure he deals with people like this well and also doesn't do this himself?

Any thoughts welcome!

At that age I told my children that they were children who hadn't been taught how to play nicely and I generally kept myself close enough to deal with any issues (I have a very well practised 'look' which works well on children being naughty).

As they got older they learned for themselves how to deal with people, my role has been just to help them learn to respect themselves as well as others. For the more complicated 'junior school aged' stuff I found the book Bullies, Big Mouths and So-Called Friends to be a great help.

Thank you. I particularly like the way you put it about respecting themselves and respecting others, because that's exactly it.

I will hunt out that book in preparation for later years!