Providing the time and space to allow him or her to talk about what is going on in their lives may help enable them to mention anything that is not going well. Children who are not confident are more vulnerable to bullying. Spending time with a child, doing things together, and highlighting the things he or she is good at will help keep confidence levels high. If a child is being bullied, their family could help by insisting that the school addresses the situation and works to prevent it happening again in the future. It is important to remember that growing up involves a process of learning social behaviour and that this is not always easy.
Children are sometimes unkind to each other, intentionally and unintentionally.
To be picked on for any reason can be upsetting and, if it develops into long-term bullying, psychologically damaging. Helping a child learn to respond well to comments from other children, and to learn that it is more to do with how they act than how they look or sound that has an influence on how other people behave towards them, can do much to prevent this from happening. If, on the other hand, they are comfortable with who they are and how they look and sound, they will find it a lot easier to assess a situation and respond to comments appropriately. Not every child born with a cleft will feel self-conscious, but some might find Changing Faces ' literature helpful in making them feel more comfortable in uncomfortable situations.