Parenting Pointers: Bullying and Books

Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own.

Using books, especially fiction books, is a great way to help little kids work their way through difficult situations and emotions. It takes the pressure off of kids to talk about characters in the story instead of themselves or their friends, and parents can use these stories to open a dialogue with kids. Teachers can also use books to model appropriate classroom behavior, or to tackle an issue going on in the classroom without specifically calling anyone out. Although not every story is going to explore all the nuances of bullying, they can help jump-start discussion and provide options when bullying is taking place.

Bully Bean is a book in the Lima Bear series, which aims to help children handle everyday situations with siblings and friends, including tolerance, honesty, and courage. This particular book focuses on bullying and is a cute story about mean old Bully Bean who picks on all the other residents of Beandom, especially Lima Bear. But then he ends up in danger himself. It's a simple story, but can easily resonate with little kids who may be bullying, see bullying, or experience bullying. The illustrations are cute, and by using a make-believe world, kids may feel more comfortable sharing their feelings about bullying.