If your teenage daughter comes home one day crying telling you how she has been bullied in school, don’t take out the shotgun and head for the school ground. There are better ways to handle this common problem.

Teenage bullying is very stressful for your child but this does not mean that you have to take the situation into your own hands hands. Always remember that your child must learn to handle different life situations including bullying. It happens and there is a lesson to be learned here, but you have to ensure that they aren't in danger too.

Note that your child must learn to be independent and take of him or herself. If you always come to her rescue every time she gets into trouble, your child will always be dependent on you.

According to studies, it is not healthy for a child, especially a teenager, to be overly dependent on his or her parents. The earlier the child learns the value of independence, the better he or she will be able to survive as an adult.

Helping Your Child -

The best thing that you can do to help your child who is a victim of teenage bullying is to give him your full support and give him or her tips on how to handle situations like this - but don't be afraid to step in if needed.

For instance, you need to teach your child to be assertive. Demonstrate some assertive behavior and lead you child by example. However, you should make it a point to differentiate assertive from demanding and aggressive.

Being assertive means that you only ask what is rightfully yours. Teach your child to stand his or her ground when she is right and to apologize when he or she commits a wrong.

You must be able to teach your teenager the art of differentiating routine teasing from bullying.

Tell your teenager that there are certain acceptable degrees of teasing and arguing. Now of course, things like friendly teasing and arguing is part of socializing and your teenager must learn to understand these things and accept them.

However, when the teasing and the arguing turns sour and resulted to teenage bullying, tell you child to put a stop to it at once by letting the others know that the situation is no longer funny and they should stop teasing him or her at once.

To cope with teenage bullying, teach your teenager social skills so that he or she will be able to easily fit into a group. Remember, it is very important for teenagers to be accepted by their peers. The more your child is accepted by his or her peers, the lesser chances that he or she will be subjected to teenage bullying.

At the same time though, peer pressure and the desire to "fit in" can lead to undesirable behaviors too. So keep an eye on what your child does and know who their friends are.

There are times when teenage bullying goes out of control and violence happens. It is not uncommon for teenage bullying to result in more serious incidents. If you feel that your teenager is in danger, that’s the time when you have to come in and deal with the situation your own way.

Amy Cainfield is an published author and a long time Internet Safety advocate and proponent of Internet Monitoring Software like http://www.pctattletale.com that designed to help parents keep their children safe when they go online.