2 year old is being bullied-I'm lost

smileybabyboy

My son will be 3 in August.  He is so laid back he is often bullied by his own friends.  They are often doing annoying things like blocking him from going up a ladder, pulling him, taking his hat, etc.  Often their parents/my friends are right there and don't really do anything about it.  I have taught him to say "I don't like that" which he says, but it doesn't help the situation and the parents don't seem to get the hint.  What do I do? I hate seeing him getting picked on. 

jasminelorraine20

I would talk to their parents or maybe even say something like "that's not nice, can you let him through" or along those lines. This is one of the reasons why we enrolled LO into Karate as soon as they would take him, which is age 3. They teach techniques and what to say in regards to bullying, strangers, etc. with confidence and it boosts their self esteem. I think it might be worth looking into.

Tara0604

I'm usually the one that is more involved with the kids when they are playing, so I address the behavior with the child. First, I just address it with the child, but if it continues, I say it loud enough for the parent to hear. It also depends on where we are. For example, if we are in my home, I really take charge because it is my house. Sometimes I close off an area to all of them or I take the toy away. If it is in someone else's house or the playground, I redirect my son, but make sure the parent hears the reason why we are redirecting.  Good luck, it's not easy.

Edit: I'm a long term lurker, coming out of the cracks slowly

Bigboobsmcgee

Tara0604 said:

I'm usually the one that is more involved with the kids when they are playing, so I address the behavior with the child. First, I just address it with the child, but if it continues, I say it loud enough for the parent to hear. It also depends on where we are. For example, if we are in my home, I really take charge because it is my house. Sometimes I close off an area to all of them or I take the toy away. If it is in someone else's house or the playground, I redirect my son, but make sure the parent hears the reason why we are redirecting.  Good luck, it's not easy.

Edit: I'm a long term lurker, coming out of the cracks slowly

I agree with this. I have a 3 year old and when he's playing, I usually have an eye on him to stop any conflict that arises. I usually don't get involved unless it's something I consider serious or becoming nasty. I absolutely address the kid first and if that pisses off the parent, oh well, maybe they should be paying closer attention to their kid picking on other kids.

I would take a step back though when something happens and make sure it's not just normal kid behavior. Around this age, kids are just learning how to act, deal with conflict, share, etc and when it comes to our kids, lots of parents are defensive (myself included) and hate to see our kids picked on so we tend to jump to worst case scenario.

Perfect Sonnet

Bigboobsmcgee said:

Tara0604 said:

I'm usually the one that is more involved with the kids when they are playing, so I address the behavior with the child. First, I just address it with the child, but if it continues, I say it loud enough for the parent to hear. It also depends on where we are. For example, if we are in my home, I really take charge because it is my house. Sometimes I close off an area to all of them or I take the toy away. If it is in someone else's house or the playground, I redirect my son, but make sure the parent hears the reason why we are redirecting.  Good luck, it's not easy.

Edit: I'm a long term lurker, coming out of the cracks slowly

I agree with this. I have a 3 year old and when he's playing, I usually have an eye on him to stop any conflict that arises. I usually don't get involved unless it's something I consider serious or becoming nasty. I absolutely address the kid first and if that pisses off the parent, oh well, maybe they should be paying closer attention to their kid picking on other kids.

I would take a step back though when something happens and make sure it's not just normal kid behavior. Around this age, kids are just learning how to act, deal with conflict, share, etc and when it comes to our kids, lots of parents are defensive (myself included) and hate to see our kids picked on so we tend to jump to worst case scenario.

I agree with the bolded.  I have had to do this a lot.  When they're this young, they're still trying to work out how these social rules work.  I have tended to get defensive about what I perceive is my daughter getting picked on, but really it usually sums up to kids being kids.

If he is sad about it or expresses his feelings were hurt, I would definitely have a talk to him about the right/wrong way to treat people, sharing, allowing others a turn, etc.  Or have a talk about expressing these feelings in general.

smileybabyboy

Thank you for everyone's advice.  I'll try to stay away more and not jump in as fast, but it's hard when he starts to get upset.  Yeah this is a tough area to deal with since it concerns other kids.