Bullying

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I kind of agree with you and with Moderate here...

I think the desire to treat children with (excuse pun) kid gloves does perhaps leave them without any actual coping mechanisms. I got bullied, not a lot, but some time to time, being chubby at times and more bookish than sporty it was inevitable.

One trend that's made me insane... parents accusing teachers for bullying their kids... because they either told them off or said they didn't do something well.

I realised very quickly that the best way to deal with it was to either let it wash away or stand up to them. Most bullies will target those who they think won't fight back.

Once in HS a guy was flicking the back of my ears, he'd been giving me some crap on and off for months... I decided I'd had enough. I said to the teacher "excuse me for this in advance, I turned in my seat, looked him square in the eye and said "keep your f^%#ing hands to yourself"... we actually ended up getting along really well.

But there are scenarios where nothing will stop someone... and there needs to be mechanisms to ensure they know victimisation will NOT be tolerated. There are always going to be kids vulnerable to this sort of thing, regardless of what kind of confidence we try to give them.