bullying! *contains a lot of "cussing"*

[tackygothgirl]

ok, this pisses me off to no end!!! i'm on this site called mamasource where moms can ask questions of other moms, whether it be about discipline or sleep schedules or recipes, whatever. anywho, this mom posted a request asking for input on what to do about a boy who lives near them and goes to the same school with her son and he's been mercilessly picking on her son. they're in middle school. now, i was picked on in high school. not much, but there were a couple times i thought i was about to get my ass kicked. i learned real quick that if you give those kids ANY kind of reaction, they will keep at it. i'm not talking about just not saying anything back to them, but not changing the direction you are walking or the speed you are walking, not even making a different face or looking in their direction. just pretending that they don't even exist. yeah, that's tough to do, and yeah, it's probably harder for a boy to do b/c they are hard-wired to be more aggressive...but if you give them no reaction, then it's no fun and they will quit. so i told the mom this and said i'd suggest also getting him involved with something he's good at like sports or music or chess or whatever...any kind of group thing that he can flourish in, build confidence and make some new friends. now sure, i don't have an older kid yet, but like i said, i was picked on before. and guess what? i was picked on in college by a few people when i first started (before i was all "gothed-out" and "scary" LOL). i've been picked on at work, too! bullies are EVERYWHERE and if you let your son/daughter switch schools or whatever, you are teaching them to run away from their problems, rather than deal with them, and our job as parents is to prepare our kids for adulthood. seeing as there's bullies EVERYWHERE and will be for the rest of our lives, we should probably let our kids learn to deal with it while they are still young enough for us to guide them in the right direction...am i right??? well apparently i'm not in the majority here, b/c the rest of the moms who responded to this woman told her to send her son to a different school, get the bully to be switched to a different school, fight back by punching him in the nose, contact the principal and teachers and counselors, contact the school board, contact the school district, and even get a lawyer and contact police and file for a restraining order and press charges!!!!!! what the holy fuck??? not to mention, several of them said that it's the school's responsibility to keep their son safe??? HUH??? i thought that it was the school's responsibility to TEACH her son, not ensure his safety! what are they gonna do, hire a security guard to walk around with him the rest of his fucking life???? last i checked, it's the PARENTS job to keep their kids safe, and part of the way we do that is to TEACH our own goddamned kids how to deal with situations!!! like how i teach my girls to look both ways before crossing the street...i'm not always gonna be there to check for cars before they cross. and even if i was there 24/7 until they leave home, what the fuck would they do after they leave home??? not know how to cross a street safely? isn't that the point of being a fucking parent??? the suggestions of police involvement pissed me off the most. most cities don't have enough officers as it is. they kinda have important things to do...like responding to robberies, murders, hit and runs....you know, real crimes??? they are NOT paid to be a mediator between 2 sets of parents and their kids! they are NOT paid to break up school fights! there are way too many incidents nowadays when people immediately call the cops just b/c they are having problems with their fucking neighbor or something and don't know how to deal with it on their own. and when a parent calls the cops every time a kid calls their kid a name, that kid will grow up to not have any clue how to resolve problems and will end up being one of those retards who calls the cops b/c his neighbor called him an asshole LOL am i the only one who thinks that kids show be taught to deal with issues instead of running away from them or getting a restraining order on another kid who calls him a dickhead??? am i the only non-"helicopter" mom???