Preventing bullying against children with diabetes

AGOOD number of parents, especially those with children who suffer from chronic illnesses may be sceptical about enrolling their children into formal schools. Inasmuch as bullying can happen to any child, whether they have a chronic illness or not, stigma is usually high among children with diabetes.

A Type 1 diabetes diagnosis can set children apart from their classmates and bullies, unfortunately, often target those they consider “different”.

It is mostly common that children with chronic conditions are usually subjected to bullying in school, something which results in them performing poorly in school, or being generally anti-social when they are around other children in the school environment.

It is important to note is that bullying does not only happen to primary or secondary school children, but even to adults in university or college who interact with people from different walks of life, some of whom fail to learn/understand other people’s backgrounds and medical conditions.

This too can affect marks as well as performance of some students, especially those that cannot stand up for themselves.

How can schools and parents prevent bullying of children with Type 1 diabetes?

Raising them in a conducive environment

Having to “grow up” before your actual age is one thing that most children with diabetes have had to do, thus making them easy targets for bullies at school.

Therefore, parents and guardians of children with Type 1 diabetes may have to understand the importance of their children being independent. The concept of weaning their children off by allowing them to be in environments that children of their ages are can be considered a huge step in tackling the bullying that children with diabetes face when they are at school.

This is especially because the more they interact with other children, the less they will stop feeling “different”, thus making other schoolchildren stop seeing them as different, hence reducing the element of bullying in the school environment.

Show them that you trust them

Trusting that your child can take care of themselves when you are not around is also a huge step in preventing the bullying of a child with diabetes at school. Trusting that they can take their own insulin shots and check their blood glucose levels on their own can boost their confidence at school and stop bullying.

If a child is constantly checked on by their school nurse or teacher in connection to their condition, it can reduce their confidence levels while at school.

Trust can start off at home, when the child can take their own insulin shots and check their blood glucose levels while their caregivers or parents look on. Once trust has been established in the home, it is easy for it to be also established in a school environment.

Instil confidence in them

Always reminding a child with Type 1 diabetes that they can achieve anything they want — instilling self-confidence in them is very important in the fight against bullying.

A child who knows what they would like to achieve is more likely to be able to stand up for themselves in taking a stand against bullies.

Thus, a parent’s continuous reassurance is very important in the fight against bullying.

For a child to be confident, they must however, know what it means to have diabetes and be able to accept the condition in their lives. Thus, when both children and parents begin to fully understand that their lives are not meant to revolve around diabetes, but instead that diabetes must revolve around them, a web of confidence is built and the culture of bullying is tackled once and for all.

On the other hand, understanding that diabetes is not a death sentence or a mammoth task to handle can help teachers in the fight against bullying in their schools.

Organise diabetes seminars/talks

Schools can organise training sessions for their teachers through various organisations or educational materials such as the International Diabetes Federation’s Kids Programme and even through organisations such as the Zimbabwe Diabetic Association. It is inevitable that once a teacher knows what they are dealing with, they are likely to stand up for any child they see being bullied because of a chronic condition.

Involve children with diabetes in activities

School authorities through their members of staff can also help in the fight against bullying. It is important for teachers to desist from discriminatory language or even language that may be regarded as stigmatising. It is important to note that children will often say what they would have heard grown-ups saying, and so is the case with some of these bullies: they will simply repeat what they would have heard other people saying, in this case their teachers thus knowingly or unknowingly cause damage to another child.

It is, therefore, important for school teachers to try to express some interest in diabetes, try to understand what diabetes is and try to help the child with the condition to somewhat stand up for himself.