Do you talk to your children about intervening if someone is being bullied?

I do, and my child has intervened. Numerous times.

I had interveened a few times in high school when some of the nice girls were gettin gpicked on. ALTHOUGH, i had a super cool, feisty big sister who everybody knew had my back...so no one messed with me & i knew the wouldn't mess with me. So, this gave me an advantage in high school to help those who got picked on. I never thought bullying was right, i always tried to stop them in their track.

BUT, my eldest brother intervened one time to help a friend who was about to get beat up. Instead, my brother got his ass whooped....i remember how sad i was when he came home with 2 black eyes. So, this is a tough question. Do i want to put my DD at risk of being teased/picked on & possibly beat up? No, but would i be proud of my child if she stood up for someone?Yes, i would be. I think a lot of these girls who get picked on cannot find the confidence nesassary to stand up for themselves.

Oh yes And I know that they would have. Just last week our 100 lb. 15yo, stopped his twice as big as is friend from seriously hurting a younger boy. This happened in school before school started . The younger boy had punched the bigger ones sister in the month. The bigger boy went to find him. He did, he found him in a classroom, where he preceded to beat the crap out of the kid. Our son heard about it. ran to the classroom. Told the bigger one hey that's enough. When he didn't listen, our son grabbed the bigger kid under his arms, and threw across the room. The bigger started to get up DS stood between the two and said enough. Later DS was sent to the Asst. Principals office where he was told good job, thank you. I have other stories of the older ones doing this type of thing. Oh and as far the Teachers not being in the clasroom. At this time day they are to be in the hallways watching.

My tough ass sister was picked on a few times. Well....she grabbed her flute case one day & swung it & hit the girl in the face. Yeah...she got suspended....but she NEVER got picked on again....EVER! Infact, people stayed out of her way...LOL! She was not a bully herself, but she was not going to let anyone talk badly to her. She felt confident & was not scared of anyone. But, some girls get intimidated easily....& the bullies single them out because they are vulnerable. If i knew my DD had a good social standing in school & if i knew that she was confident enough, then yes...i would encourage her to stand up for someone if they were getting picked on.

I JUST received a phone call from another PTO mom.. A 2nd grader was being picked on by 5th graders on the playground this am before the bell to go in. My daughter (who didn't know the child) went over, got her hand and said why don't you come play with us. The PTO mom said she almost cried at how well my daughter handled the situation. Without fear.. She quietly stood up to the bullies and helped the child being picked on out of the situation.. Now,whether or not my daughter will now be the one bullied for sticking and helping someone, is another question? I am anxious to talk to my daughter when she comes home from school to see how she felt and tell her she did a wonderful thing...  Luckily our school has a strong PTO presence. We don't let that stuff fly. We talk to other parents.  We encourage the kids to come to us, if not their teacher.

Middle school, high school???? That's a while new level...

To tell an adult yes, not to personally come between it.

Not anymore. My son intervened when a boy was picking on a girl. The boy kicked this girl and my son told him to stop. The boy then turned on my son and they began fighting. So who ended up in the principal's office? My son, and I had to leave work to go pick him up. So now he is told to tell a teacher and that's the most he can do.

While I haven't specifically said anything about bullying, the school does have a strict policy about bullying, and they are very good about stopping it before it gets started. I keep in frequent contact with all my kids teachers, and have a pretty good idea of what goes on in their respective schools. I have discussed this with dd, btw, she would do something, she has a very strong sense of right & wrong, and would not allow anyone in her presence to be picked on. My son takes karate/self defense, and knows that he is not to start something, but he can sure as heck defend himself, or someone else. I have told him that the first step is to tell a teacher, or an adult. IF the adults don't do anything, then he can do it, but fortunately the teachers at his school are very pro-active about this.

I've always been bothered by situations where a student was being bullied by a one or two kids in the presence of many students. Almost worse than the bullying were the students who stood and watched it happen and did nothing about it. I've read several news articles over the last year where students watched or even cheered while awful things were happening.

My son, to my knowledge, has never had to defend himself or someone else, but I pray that he would intervene on someone's behalf.