ANTI BULLYING

They've tried both and neither work. At the end of the day, bullies are going to bullying others.

I genuinely believe there should be a three strike rule for bullying. After that you’re gone from the school. Someone’s education isn’t more important than someone’s life and too many teens and children take their life from bullying. Physically bullying should be dealt with like assault is by the police and schools/teachers that ignore bullying should be held liable and risk loosing their jobs It’s parents job to teach empathy and understanding. Schools shouldnt have to “teach” it just promote

@Emilie agree. The parents of the bully can then take some accountability and have to figure out what to do with their kid next.

We need more mental health services… parents need more access to mental health services… we also need DEI classes not less. They focus so much on test results here in the US and what’s the point… we still rank mid in education so clearly we need to revamp the education system… and i always told me kids there are no bad kids just bad parents… they got bullied a lot and the school had supposed strict guidelines for anti bullying but it never works unless we address the root of the problem.

@Brittany yep! Then if they get removed from more than one school they need to be home schooled and the parents can deal with it 24/7

Both and a ban on social media

If they can't stop the bullies they should be excluded My now 11yr old was bullied from age 6 to age 9 (physically attacked, kicked in the head infront of her teacher who LAUGHED) and was su1cidal so as the school couldn't/wouldn't keep her safe I had to move her schools, which honestly was the best decision as she loved her new school and her confidence renewed in a caring environment and she was sad to leave for high school this year. 1 bully child can destroy your child and it needs to stop.

I think they should do both enact strict policies for repeat offenders and based on age and development etc .

It has to be both. You need to prevent the bullying, but also strictly punish it when it does happen. They've been tried and don't work. Bullies have brains and personalities that don't understand empathy, so it doesn't matter how many programs you give them, they'll always be bullies.

Really, I think if we go back to teaching kids how to handle bullies instead of teaching kids to be victims and thinking that someone else will stop the bullies for them we would have more resilient kids. Also, they would be better prepared for the adult world, where we just call the bullies assholes.

In my experience the teachers protect the bullies for various reasons.

@Katie often if a child "fights back" they get in trouble! My daughter was punished for hitting back yet the bully was ignored

I think the schools teach too much empathy to try to fix the bullying problem but it never works because the bullies don't care about stuff like that. It just makes the people getting bullied not want to tell on the bullies because "they might have something going on at home". They need to actually handle the bullies and follow the rules when dealing with them. I've seen far too many kids who were being bullied be suspended/expelled1 because they finally had enough and did something about it. But a lot of bullies are protected by the teachers because their parents make donations or they are teachers or district peoples kids too.

@Heather I know. I got in trouble a the time for fighting because I'd stand up to bullies. But as parents we have to look at the bigger picture. Do we want to raise a victim that will follow rules no matter what or a strong person who will do the right thing? As a kid I was bullied at school and at home. At least at school I could fight back.

@Katie my daughter was suicidal after 3 years of physical attacks that started in Yr1 While I tried to get the school to act and encouraged my daughter to defend herself she was the one who got into trouble and the bully ignored which then escalated to her being kicked in the head and threatened with a pair of scissors She was hardly equipped at age 8 to deal with those threats and expecting others to tolerate bullying "be resilient" is honestly gaslighting. NO ONE should have to suffer that, child or adult and it wouldn't be tolerated in a workplace as the person making threats would be sacked.

I never said to tolerate it. But it is a fact of life that bullying is going to happen, and so we need to equip our kids with ways to deal with it.

@Katie we shouldn't need to equip them to deal with it! I'm not meaning a clash of personality or general dislike but actual bullying/assaults should never be tolerated An employer would sack someone for making threats so why should kids be expected to just put up with it

Because at the end of the day, relying on others to fix your problems leads to more problems. I understand that bullying is way more than a clash of personalities. But we've been trying for close to fifty years and still haven't been able to prevent or end bullying. We need to be preparing our kids to deal with it because we can't get rid of it. Part of that means making sure your kid understands that you'll be the parent jumping on desks demanding that teachers and administrators follow their policies. If they won't, switch to a school that will.

People seem to think that the adult workplace is this idyllic environment, when I have had some really messed up co-workers and me putting them in their place because they're bullying myself or other coworkers is seen as wrong because the bully has been there longer.

I genuinely can't believe you expect anyone to just learn to be resilient against physical assaults 🤣🤣🤣 Let's hope Karma doesn't bite you on the arse. And no surprise you're American who normalise this stuff but I assure you in the UK workplace bullying isn't tolerated. And as for "just move schools" isn't that simple as often schools are full to capacity here, I had to wait 3 years for a space to become available at any school near us for my daughter

@Katie Can I ask if you have ever experienced UK school? It's not that easy over here. Bullying in the workplace isn't tolerated, we have unions for that. In schools, there will literally be year 6's ganging up on year 1's. Grandparents are often dinner ladies in their grandkids schools as well, and will stick up for their grandkids friends. I was called names, had my fingers bent back, got ganged up on, my school work torn up. That's not even the start of It. UK school is brutal, we cannot be coddled. It's best to stick up to them, but the bullies always get away and the victim suffers more. I got surrounded by a group and had insults yelled at me, but because I had to push past the group to escape. I got in trouble. I did karate after school as a extracurricular, my parents got called into a meeting at the school to be told it was not appropriate. Why? Because the school didn't want there little favourite to get their head kicked in. They where aware of the bullying, they just didn't sort it

@Heather i am so sorry you and her went through this love :) so glad she’s loving her new school xoxo