Bully's How do feel about it?

[vp44]

My son was bullied for 2 yrs from his 1st grade to 2nd. I was so lost on the issue I had to research the subject. I didnt understand how kids act this way when they was suppose to be innocent and just have fun and live life.

[Abrupt]

It is part of animal nature to 'correct/discipline/etc' members of a pack that act different from the rest of the pack.  Humans have this tendency too but it manifests itself more cruelly, and perhaps because we associate with many different packs that all have differing concepts of conformity.  That is the most 'innocent' form of human bullying too and there are far worse versions than that.  Bullies are nothing new and I can find no reason to assume that they havn't been around for as long as man has and that they will remain equally as long as man does.

I still find the best way to handle bullies is to confront them directly and abruptly.  Regardless if the confrontation results in a win/lose/draw it generally will end the issue (other than pure rivalry type bullying but that is another matter).  Having others step in to handle the situation (e.g. teachers) is not a good solution as that tends to make the bully only become more cunning and devious in their intent.  Of course I am no trained expert on the matter and simply have years of experience from both sides of the situation.

[meguk]

Having worked as an elementary school teacher for most of my adult life, bullying is something that I've come up against time and time again. I have seen so many different varieties of bullying, but they all hurt. I always feel terribly useless when confronting bullying, mostly because I am extremely limited in how I can proceed. Recently we've been dealing with a lot of cyber bullying, which is even more frustrating.

[momoney555]

I feel that schools should be held accountable for not dealing with school bullies.  Staff usually knows who the bullies are.  I was a teacher for several years and I know teachers have a lot to deal with, but bullying is a very serious disciplinary problem that needs to be addressed, and not ignored as something that will just work itself out in time.  Teachers should receive training to deal with handling bullying in schools and the structure of educational systems in the lower grades, should be updated to demand zero tolerance for this behavior much in the same way they have been for drugs, alcohol and weapons in schools.

[hlvhome]

My heart goes out the the kids who suffer because of bullying. I think as adults we have a resonpibilty to make sure that we do not allowing it happen around us. Also to correct children as soon as we see it, to not let them get away with the "just kidding", it happens so when they are so young.

[dell9031]

Bullying is a fact of life....unfortunately.  Two choices.....rise up against the bully....avoid the bully.  I have to say confrontation is something those that get bullied must deal with.  I taught my child how to throw an effective punch if bullied physically....I taught my child how to defend himself verbally....unfortunately-again......the mental and emotional affects of defending yourself still leave scars......the best you can do is make sure the injuries are not permanent and you coach them through to build up something called resilience.

[ghunter]

I feel it should be a crime, some kids do not know how to handle bullies, but it is best to face it on, they are just as afraid of the next person .  So I really do not like kids that bully other's kids.  Parent should teach their children to treat everyone the way that they could like to be treated.                                                       

[diala84]

There was a grade school teacher who did an experiment. One week she treated kids special when they had brown hair. They would get gold stars, first to recess and other privileges. In that week the brown haired kids started to bully the other kids thinking they were better than them. The next week the teacher started treating blond hair kids special and so on.  When the experiment was done everyone knew what it felt like to be picked on as well as to be the bully. This gave the kids a unique perspective on how their behavior effects other kids. Even years later the kids from that class still remember this experiment and it had an effect on how they treated others later in their life.  

I think bullying needs to be addressed early on and if possible find a way to make everyone understand what it feels like to be at both sides of the issue. Without empathy we can't address this issue.