Say NO to bullying with Andy Day and his brand new band Andy and the Odd Socks - share your thoughts on dealing with bullies: chance to win £300 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We have been asked to find out about your childs’ experiences of bullying and to hear your tips on dealing with bullies by Andy Day and the Anti Bullying Alliance. Andy is one of the most popular faces on children’s TV as a presenter on Cbeebies.

Andy, with his band ‘Andy and the Odd Socks’, are also patrons of the Anti-Bullying Alliance and next week (13-17 Nov) they will be encouraging primary schools up and down the country to take part in Anti-Bullying Week. It's a cause Andy is very passionate about and is one of the reasons he formed the band. He believes that music is not only great entertainment for children, but is also a great way to inspire them to be accepting of each other and to show everybody is different in their own way.

Andy and the Odd Socks say “we are all about putting across a positive, inclusive fun message via our new song ‘Unique’ which has been chosen by the charity to support their message this year of ‘All Different, All Equal’”.

See below for the video for 'Unique' by Andy and the Odd Socks.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance say “the aim of the campaign is help young children understand that everyone is different and to celebrate that from an early age. The main focus of the week is the introduction of ‘Odd Socks Day’ (the official Odd Socks Day is Monday 13th November (but schools can still take part and hold an Odd Socks Day at any time)), whereby Primary Schools and their pupils are encouraged to wear odd socks for the day to promote individuality, being unique, a sense of self and awareness for the overall aim of the week....to say NO to bullying”.

So Andy and the Alliance would love to hear how you and your child have coped with bullies, any tips on avoiding being bullied and also your experiences and thoughts generally about bullying amongst primary school aged children.

Add your comment below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one person will win a £300 voucher for the store of choice - from a list.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T and Cs Apply

PS If you have any questions about bullying, do join us on Monday 13 November at 11.00am where we will be Live on Facebook Live Andy Day and Lauren Segar-Smith of Kidscape

[AR2012]

My kids aren't in primary yet. But i plan to have an open discussion to make sure that they know anything that bothers them they can tell me or my OH and we'll look to resolve it.

[happysouls]

Talking to the teacher about any problems was always encouraged, and also standing together with other kids so that he had allies! Once he was in a group they were all braver and didn't get as much nonsense tried on! It didn't take long for it to come to an end!

[faythy]

My son is experiencing bullying which, because it hasn't been dealt with strongly enough, has just got worse and worse over the years. I've had to resort to telling him to fight back if anyone hits him, fight back and make it count. Bullies like to go for easy targets, and fighting back makes them rethink.

[shellywkd]

There was a girl a who was really mean to my daughter. I had to go to the school several times who to be honest were useless. This girls mum was a TA in the school as well. My daughter is autistic so really struggled with this and things only got sorted when one of her specialists spoke to the head teacher in the end.

[footdust]

I talk with my daughter about it,about why it is wrong to bully and why they should always speak to a grown up if they feel bullying is happening.

[hiddenmichelle]

Lots of support for the child and then straight into school. It needs tackling as soon as possible and should be talked about and the victim given support.

[southernsun]

This is one of my main fears, that my child will suffer from bullying. We teach him to do the right things and have respect for others and to speak to us if he is worried about things but I know from suffering from bullying (luckily only minor) that speaking up is not always easy to do.

[Ethan260908]

Bullying leaves a lasting impact. Crumple up a piece of A4 paper and then try to smooth it out again. Same piece of paper, completely different in nature. This is the impact bullying can have. One child at my son's school was bullying my son and his mother abrubtly said to me that it was something that my son was just going to have to deal with - needless to say her son was called Jack as in I'm alright Jack. The BeKind movement on This Morning is also a wonderful source of info aswell as Andy's movement above. Having been bullied and then turned into a bully (because I craved the power that bullies have), I would say the lessor of the two evils is to stand up to bullies and fight back because they are actually scared of being finding out that they aren't as physically strong as they assume. On line bullying is of course entirely different, but that should and can be reported to the police as the internet never forgets what has been written. Wise words but not the easiest to put into practise I know from personal experience

[lolly2011]

At first he says "stop I don't like it" making it lear to the other child he doesn't like what they are doing, sometimes its a missunderstanding, someone playing too rough etc. If it carries on he tells a teacher / dinner lady. It is difficult to deal with.

[lhlee62]

I don't think my daughters have experinced bullying yet, they are only 4 and 5.5 so still young. I think they are both outspoken enough that they would say something to any bullies, plus their nan is the CEO of a anti-bullying charity so I think she'd have something to say about it.

[bubbleybooboo]

My daughter hasnt had any problems with bullies but one of her friends had. The school were doing what they could but it wasnt helping much.

My daughter then had a day off school and saw the be kind campaign on this morning. She asked if i would ask the school if it would show the video for the campaign which they agreed.

Since this it seems the girl who was bullying my daughter friend has now given up and they have even become friends.

I think schools need to be more open to discuss childrens worries and act quicker on bullies rather than turning a blind eye (which i have witnessed) and carrying on like nothing is going on

[angela121262]

I think primary school teachers should role play negative behaviours with children to promote understanding of the impact of bullying.

[holey]

We have had some issues with my eldest but every time the schools have dealt with it fantastically well and stopped it completely in its tracks. We've talked about why people bully others- to big themselves up, to fit in with others, as a way of controlling an aspect of their own lives etc etc so they are aware that bullies are often victims themselves and in some set ups bullying someone else stops you being picked on yourself. I was mortified when I asked my daughter (then aged about 6) what she did when K was horrible to her and she said she went and sat on a bench and cried. It took a while to make her realise that seeing her do this made K pick on her more because she'd got a reaction. Now mine are teenagers it is easier to discuss but with little ones it is so hard making them understand that you can't ever let a bully think they've beaten you.

[gd2011]

If the school doesn't have a proper anti-bullying policy, don't send your children there.

[finleypop]

My son has only had 1 experience of bullying & it was a random attack. An older pupil got him in a headlock at the bus stop & lifted him from the ground, in effect strangling him.
The older boy was from his school & was showing off, but we dealt with the school & they handled it perfectly, my son had no repercussions at all

[janeyf1]

Occasionally my dc gets upset by someone at school due to name calling and bullying. She used to be very sensitive but is learning to be more resilient. I encouraged her to show how brave she can be so that they would be less likely to jealously say silly things in future. I said they don't mean it anyway. Fortunately she has lots of friends which helps enormously

[devito92]

My son has always been taught to not hit out at others, which to this day has kept him away from bullies. He always supports others who get bullied and will inform the teachers if he sees it happening.

[meepmoop79]

The first thing we say to our children, is to tell a teacher (if at school) or the person in charge (if at a club). In all instance this has stopped bullying at school.
At clubs its been a different matter. Sometimes the person in charge takes no action or insufficent action. When this happens we have suggested that our child stand up for themselves (stopping short of
actual fighting), but by this point our child no longer wished to remain at the club.

[johnsonp100]

Communication! With your child, with the school, with the other parents if necessary. A lot of minor things can be nipped in the bud before it gets serious with good communication

[mooota1514]

Communication! With your child, with the school, with the other parents if necessary. A lot of minor things can be nipped in the bud before it gets serious with good communication

[BellaWella86]

I'm not aware that my daughter has encountered bullying at school yet, but we've spoken about the issue after an invaluable talk in assembly. We spoke about people not being nice and how it is okay to talk to a teacher or a parent if someone was upsetting her. I was bullied as a child and am quite paranoid for my children, but encouraging them to be open and honest will hopefully help.

[kayleigh39]

I was bullied throughout school and now, my 8 year old autistic nephew is being bullied os meshing rotten. The same name keeps coming up and he gets away with so much! My nephew was actually punished and sent to a sensory room for celebrating scoring a goal - guess why? The bully complained that he didn't like it! So what we learned is that bullies get away with it time and time again!

[Sezza110]

Usually get the teacher involved but schools nowadays have to be very careful on how they approach things.

[Lisapaige24]

I always tell my children that if anybody bullies them they are to go straight to the teacher or to tell me and their father so it can be dealt with straight away before it gets worse and I hope none of my children would ever bully as I have taught them to treat everyone the same as you expect to be treated luckily there schools have anti bullying campaign which they put into affect to ensure bullying doesn’t happen which seems to work thankfully