Is being bullied part of growing up or a crime.

One thing I have noticed is that the parents who say that kids are just being kids were usually the mean kids or bullies themselves when they were in school. They think it is funny or they say stuff like "well, tell your kid to fight back". Why not tell your kid to stop being a bully? Some parents are just blind to the whole situation as long as it's not THEIR child being picked on. As soon as it is their kid that is being bullied, they have plenty to say about stopping it and things like that. Those parents should have been teaching their kids to be nice to everyone from the very beginning.

I meet one of my bullys a few years ago. She was working at the service desk of a grocery store. She actually greeted me as if we were long lost friends. I wanted to do many things but simply did my business without being friendly. I just wasn't capable of it. These people abuse you for years and it's nothing to them.

You are so right. We need to work together on this. The only thing stopping us are parents. They don't belive their child is a bully or don't care. Then they are the ones to threaten to sue the schools. When we actually make it a crime that is punishable with more then detention or a phone call to the folks, then people will stop. Hit them where it hurts, give the parents a ticket. Losing money always gets people's attention.

I was a kid that got picked on. I stood up for myself and got suspended for a week. People who belive this are part of the problem. What happens when your child comes home every day with torn clothes, or ripped books or a black eye? You will just tell them to stand up for themselves? Preventing abuse is not making weak children. Being thrown in the water is not the best way to learn to swim. You should NOT have to learn to protect yourself from abuse. You will not run into an adult bully at all if they are shown when children that it is not acceptable. It is the same as being an abused wife. Should she have to learn to protect herself from abusive men?

You don't just throw them in, You take the time to teach them. Thats "your" responsability. Your not going to be able to fix all the deranged criminals out there so why not prepare yourself and your kids to deal with them? As for your argument about the abused wife, YES she should. An abusive relationship dosen't just happen. There are warning signs all the way through. If she'd have been more prepared she could have prevented it sooner or avoided it all together. Its not just the ability to fight, its the ability to recognize and deal with the situation. In nature your either predator , prey or capable enough of defending yourself to be neither. In humankind its the same way. Predators look for the weak, unprepared , unallert and submissive. If your well prepared your none of these and therefore not the easy target predators are looking for. You can't shield your kids all the time. You also can't fix how other people raise their kids. When you can be the parent of a whole generation and make sure they ALL grow up right then it might be a posibility , but thats not going to happen. P.S. Might dosen't make right - keeping it in check however keeps things fair. The bullies don't want to fight if there's a risk of damage to themselves.