Officials at an elementary school in Nebraska apologized for handing out a flier to students which gave them controversial tips on how to deal with bullying, FoxNews.com reported.

Parents of the students at Zeman Elemenatry in Lincoln took to Facebook to complain about the suggestions, according to the Lincoln Star Journal, which quickly prompted the handout to go viral.

One of the tips told students not to tell someone if they are being bullied because bullies don't like when their victims do that.

"Telling makes the bully want to retaliate," it says. "Tell an adult only when a real injury or crime (theft of something valuable) has occurred. Would we keep our friends if we tattled on them?"

Another rule suggested victims should laugh at themselves in such situations.

"Learn to laugh at yourself and not get "hooked" by put-downs," rule #9 said. "Make a joke out of it or agree with the put-down. For example: "If you think I'm ugly, you should see my sister!"

The school's principal, Donna Williams, apologized to families on Wednesday and had the district post the apology on Facebook as well.

"The flier was sent home with good intentions," Williams said. "Unfortunately it contained advice that did not accurately reflect LPS best practices regarding response to bullying incidents."

According to Russ Uhing, director of student services, the LPS philosophy is "Ask the bully to stop. Walk away. If the bullying continues, tell a parent or teacher," FoxNews.com said.

Mary Kay Roth, a spokeswoman for the school district, said the flier was not approved and was sent home with students by mistake.

"It's a staff issue, so we're taking care of the staffing error," Roth told the Journal. "It wasn't supposed to be sent home."