Signs Your Teen Is Bullied

Here are some signs that your kid might be the victim of a bully but unable to tell you about it!

· Some of your teen’s belongings, such as a ipod or a bike, are suddenly missing.
· You notice minor injuries such as a bruise on the arm but your kid just shrugs it off
· Your child starts skipping school or saying he or she is sick
· You kid is getting lower marks
· You notice your child is crying all the time
· Your child doesn’t eat, isn’t talking and generally withdraws
· Your child lacks friends or appears to have friends you’ve never met
· Your child takes out anger on younger children in your family

If you spot any of these warning signs there is a number of things that you can do. You can ask your teenager if there is a problem. Usually you will get a denial but if you keep pressing you will probably get answers.

Explain to your teenager that saying nothing is the worst approach, because intimidation and violence typically escalate, beginning as verbal threats and building to physical abuse. If a teen doesn’t ask for help, the situation will only get worse.

Assure your daughter that you won’t get angry if she tells you what’s happening to her and tell her you’re concerned for her safety. Make sure to keep your promise as often parents hear things they find quite objectionable.

Here are some steps in handling the problem.

· Ask your daughter who she would be most comfortable seeking help from at school. It’s usually best to start with a teacher she knows; that teacher will probably involve a vice-principal or the principal.
· Make sure the school staff support your kid and aren't actually siding with the bully somehow
· Find out from other parents if their kids are having trouble with the same bully. If so, you can go as a group to the school administration.
· Ask the principal what steps he will take and check back later to make sure he has followed through.
· In extreme cases where you kid has been battered or even stolen from, you may want to work with the school to bring in the police and lay charges.

Kids are particularly in danger of becoming the targets of bullies if they’re unhappy and have low self-esteem. Spending time with your teens and encouraging them to get involved in activities they’re good at and helps boost their self-confidence so they are not targets.

Parenting Tips
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Fire Safety Around The Home

One of the problems that we all have with home safety is that the everyday familiarity of our surroundings tends to blind us to potential danger spots. At the same time however, because danger could potentially lurk in every nook and cranny of the average home, trying to expunge the risk of getting burned completely is almost impossible.
On the other hand, there are many preventative measures that you can take around the house which will at least minimize the more obvious points of risk.
 
The first thing to realize is that in most homes, the greatest risk level as far as being burned is concerned lurks in the kitchen.
As a part of the normal routine of every average household, there will be pans boiling away on the stove, food in a hot oven, a kettle coming to the boil in the background and 101 other regular kitchen activities taking place that represent a potential burns danger spot.
At the same time, kitchens at mealtimes – which is inevitably the most dangerous time – are extremely busy places, with the cook or chef far more focused on getting the food ready than they are on safety.
 
If there are young children in the house, it is therefore imperative to keep them well away from the kitchen whenever it is at its busiest. In these circumstances, it is unlikely that youngsters serve any really useful purpose in any event, so it is just not necessary for them to be in an area where the danger of being burned or scalded literally surrounds them.
 
At the same time, you (or at least some other responsible adult) should always remain in the kitchen area when it is mealtime to ensure that everything is supervised and that the youngsters do not expose themselves to unnecessary danger.
 
As suggested earlier, chemical substances that are highly acid or alkaline represent a significant burns risk as well. If therefore you keep substances of this nature in the house (and in truth, you should question whether it is really necessary if you do so), they should be kept under lock and key.
 
Furthermore, even if these substances are only handled by responsible adults, it is still essential that they should take precautions such as wearing protective gloves and the like to minimize the risk of getting these ‘burns-waiting-to-happen' on your skin.
The next thing that should be on your own safety checklist is to ensure that your home wiring is up to scratch on a regular basis. It is obvious that there should be no exposed wires with which people can burn themselves but more than this, you need to have the wiring checked (preferably once a year) as in most homes, it is the wiring system that represents the biggest fire risk.
 

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