Help! My preschooler is getting bullied!

My 3 year old son is constantly getting pushed, hit, and even bitten by other more aggressive toddlers. I hate that he seems to be the target for many overly aggressive and socially immature preschoolers. How can I teach him to stand up for himself so he doesn’t get picked on his whole life?

MommyRN4-This makes me very sad. :( I really think that at his age it is the adults who should do the intervening. If he is getting bullied than I think you should have a very serious conversation with whoever is in charge of those kids-daycare, teacher, mom, nanny, ect. It is up to them to watch their children and intervene. What you should teach your son right now is-what is ok and what is not ok-eg-it's not ok for anyone to hit you. Then he needs to be taught to report this to the adult that is watching them. As he gets older he can learn to be assertive, but at age 3 the goal is for him to get an adults help. Keep us posted, Jess

Gosh, that's a big worry of mine. My little boy is very sweet and kind and doesn't like to be aggressive towards other kids. I suppose I might tell him that he needs to go to a teacher immediately for this kind of behavior from other kids. If the teacher deals with it, he could get some relief, at this age anyway. I would keep reinforcing to him that no one ever deserves to be hit or kicked or bitten and work hard to instill good confidence in him. Another thought is to invite other little boys that are nice to him over for play dates so that he gets a good little group of buddies going who he can stick with when the other boys are being mean to him. Just some thoughts but from someone without the experience to back it up...hopefully someone who has been there will be able to join in!

I agree with the fact that there needs to be a zero tolerance policy on the part of his caregivers, especially when it comes to biting. Consistent biting is usually a grounds for expulsion from many child care facilities.

Problem is that he is not in daycare...he is with me! He is small for his age and when we are at parks or at playgrounds, other kids will just bully him. I usually run over and intervene and scoop him up, but I hate that he has to go through that. I want to teach him how to stick up for himself because I won't always be around to protect him! 

I still think that having mom set the example and the standard that hitting, biting, shoving (ect) other kids is not ok is the best way to go at this age. You can certainly intervene, take your child out of the scene and talk nicely to the bully about proper behavior. Involving his parent or nanny would be really good. Hang in there, and keep us posted, Jess