TV host breaks his silence with reflective post about ‘washing away worries’ after revealing family’s bullying nightmare
TV presenter Barry Du Bois has broken his silence a week after sharing his family’s pain on social media.
The 64-year-old Living Room star recently shared a heartbreaking post on Instagram, revealing that he’s struggling to find a way to help his 12-year-old daughter Arabella, who is being bullied at school.
The veteran presenter then urged his followers to give him advice on how to alleviate his daughter’s problems.
This earned him an outpouring of support and advice from other fathers in the comments, including some of his celebrity followers.
And on Tuesday, Barry revealed some sage parenting advice he’s once received, alongside a photo of his heels in the sand at Bondi Beach.
“My beautiful mother always said, ‘Leave your worries in your pockets and I’ll take them out in the wash,'” he captioned the post.
‘That was always followed by a warm hug. I’m going to try a wash and rinse in the salt water at Bondi.’
Parents came out in droves to listen to the responses to compliment the advice and wish Arabella the best.
The 64-year-old Living Room star said the experience made him think about the advice his own mother used to give him during tough times
“With your permission I will borrow that for my son,” wrote Virginia Trioli, an Australian journalist and ABC Mornings co-host.
In his original post, Barry vulnerably admitted how helpless parents feel when their child is a victim of bullying at school.
“I just watched my little girl walk out of the gate of our home, a place where I know she is safe and feels secure and at home,” Barry began.
“She goes to a place that doesn’t offer the same safety, her school. As a parent I should protect her and guide her through difficult times, but this morning I’m lost.
‘Yesterday Arabella came home from school and said she was sick. This is not the first time this has happened. She was not really sick, but instead she is being bullied again.’
Barry then painfully admitted that he didn’t know how to help her and asked his followers for advice.
“What do you say to a child when you’ve already said, ‘Don’t let them upset you. Just be nice. You’re not the horrible things they say.'”
“She said, ‘I don’t want to be special, I just want to be liked,'” Barry added.
TV presenter Barry Du Bois (right) has shared a heartbreaking message on social media, expressing the helplessness he feels as a parent struggling to help his bullied child
He also admitted feeling “weak, angry, confused and a little anxious.”
Several of Barry’s famous friends responded in the comments, offering advice on how to resolve the situation.
“My mate sent his daughter to Jiu Jitsu after she was bullied. She fell in love with it and gained another level of confidence,” wrote The Bachelor Australia star Tim Robards.
“Bullying is not okay, we need to get to the bottom of the problem, who did it and why. Talk to their parents and take action, we can’t allow this kind of behavior,” added celebrity chef Miguel Maestre.
“Sometimes you just have to go to the parents and say, ‘Your kid is bullying mine,'” added Married At First Sight’s Ryan Gallagher.
The 64-year-old Living Room star shared the heartbreaking post on Instagram on Tuesday, in which he described how his 12-year-old daughter Arabella (left) was bullied at school
Barry shared a heartbreaking message on social media asking his followers to provide suggestions on how they can help
According to a 2020 OECD report, Australian schools have one of the highest rates of bullying in the world.
To effectively tackle playground bullying, schools must promote a positive culture, implement clear anti-bullying policies, educate students and staff, and provide support to victims.
The experienced presenter and his wife Leonie have twins, Bennett and Arabella, whom he married in 1999.