The Parent Book·From the library
When Your Child Is Being Bullied
For parents whose child has just told them about being bullied.
A fourteen-minute read · Published 25 May 2026
A ten-year-old is sitting on the side of his bed one evening, his hair still wet from the shower, and he has just said the thing he has been keeping to himself. He practised it in the bathroom mirror first. There’s a boy at school. He’s been doing things, and he’s been doing them since before Easter. The ten-year-old doesn’t want his father to ring the school. He doesn’t want his mother to know. He doesn’t want anyone to make it worse.
His father, on the edge of the bed, realises three things at once: his son has kept this secret for most of a term; whatever he had imagined doing if this ever happened is no use now; and his own heart is pounding in a way he hasn’t felt for a very long time.
We often see parents who have just been through some version of this evening. The details vary, but two things don’t: the parent is alarmed, and what they do next matters more than almost anything else we see a parent do.
Put it into practice
What this chapter looks like in practice: one-minute ideas for tonight, things to do together and sheets to print and keep.
Quick tipsOne minute each
- Your Child Has Just Told You About the BullyingWhat you do in the first ten minutes decides whether your child tells you the next thing.
- Left Out on Purpose, AgainWhether it’s a falling-out or bullying decides what you do next, so find out which before you act.
- When Your Child Is the One Doing the BullyingHear the facts first, then be clear with your child that it stops and that they’ll help put it right.
Seven quick tips on this in the library
To do togetherActivities
- Running the moment throughOn a calm day, you play the other child and your child tries out what they might say. Keep it short and light, and do it once or twice at most.About 10 minutes · with a sheet to print
- The school day, drawn as a lineYour child draws their day from gate to gate and marks where it feels heavy. You take the one moment they mark, not a conclusion, to the school.About 20 minutes · with a sheet to print
To printSheets to keep
The quick tips and activities are for subscribers; the sheets marked free are free to anyone, and the rest come with a subscription. What a subscription includes.
Who else can help
Coram Kidscape
The UK’s anti-bullying charity.
0300 102 4481 · Mon-Tue 9.30am-2.30pm; reduced over the summer holidays. Voicemail, email and WhatsApp accepted outside hours
If a child is at risk of harm now, do not wait for a reply: call the police on 101, or 999 if anyone is in immediate danger.
NSPCC
The NSPCC helpline is for adults worried about a child.
0808 800 5000 · Mon-Fri 10am-4pm by phone; email 11am-4pm, seven days a week. An email sent when the service is closed is not received.
If the NSPCC service is closed and the concern cannot wait, call the police on 101. You can also contact the child’s local out-of-hours children’s social care, social work or social services team. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/reporting-abuse/nspcc-helpline
YoungMinds
The UK’s young people’s mental health charity, with a free Parents Helpline, webchat and email, and a plain A to Z of the things parents worry about.
0808 802 5544 · Mon, Thu, Fri 9.30am-4pm; Tue, Wed 9.30am-6pm
Outside those hours the parents line is closed. The urgent routes on this page are open when it is not.
