Bullying at school.

Reading things like this just break my heart as my daughter will be going to preschool next year. I wouldn't send her but she really wants to go. I would hate for her to be bullied as I was. I never told my mom just put up with it and it wasn't too bad. I stood up to a girl in middle school and after that everyone left me alone. I was always one who would stick up for my friends as well. I hope that they do something about this and I would be going to the principal demanding answers about why nothing was done before and why the teacher had such a reaction. That teacher may be due for a break or maybe shouldn't be a teacher. Why would she not believe him he doesn't sound like a child that makes things up. I bet if you grandson would have defended himself he would have been in trouble too. I always her about the zero tollerance policy in schools but it doesn't seem like it is actually followed through with. I think schools do need some more power with these situations. Because you can believe that my daughter does get the occasional spanking if she needs it and guess what she doesn't seemed damaged or lacking any self esteem and she is also not a brat. And emotional girl at times yes but there is not much you can do about that. She has a cold right now so every little thing is upsetting her.

It was such an awful thing to happen to a small child. And such a sweet child, really! A child who would not even think of hurting others to protect himself is a rare find. But just see if he is scared to do that or just plain good natured. I come from a troubled family where the parents fight all the time and the anger is taken out on the kids sometimes. I was too scared to defend myself in school and even if I did, there was no one to support me. I meant my parents or siblings. But I learnt everything the hard way and now if that happens to my kid, I would go to any extreme to punish those who do it. I would suggest you enroll him in a self defence class so that he might be able to defend himself if needed. I am not saying that he will have to be violent, he would get the confidence to whack the bullies if it comes to the worst part again. There would be bullying everywhere even after he grows up. So teaching him to defend himself, emotionally as well as physically would go a long way in strengthening him. And hope it is nothing serious, the injuries.

Yes I sure have been bullied while in school and it's horrible. It's a BIG reason why I dropped out of school because I couldn't take it anymore. I was bullied by teachers, kids and even the counselor. My parents wouldn't listen to me because I was so shy and scared to stand up for myself out of fear of getting into trouble because the teachers and counselors knew how to out talk me. So please, stand up for your son. He needs you now in a huge way. His teachers need to be put in their place here and now or he needs to be put in another class.

Please no one take this the wrong way but i think this discipline issue mainly happens in America. I come from Nigeria where bullies exist but have less influence on how others behave towards them. Since I have been going to school i have never actually been bullied, people at times try to make points but if u know how to stand up for what u believe in they shut up and stay away, I know what im saying because of gotten in this kind of mess tons of times. In all the places ive been too there is discipline. Like when i was in Israel i saw a mom discipline her child at the park because she misbehaved, now in America its called child abuse. In a lot of school in Nigeria teachers discipline student to the point that it actually makes no sense at all but they still do it because they are trying to make a point no one ever gets until year later. Your grandson should try acting a little more tougher, he should just watch a bully do whatever they feel like. Bully only go after the kids who have confidence problems, he should pull himself together, im not saying he is allowed to fight but if he stand there with looking like he is afraid any bully will leave him alone. America has no discipline, but if kids start getting home schooled they will miss out and end up being naive about certain things when they are older. School isnt just for to learn things mentally, its also where u get active physically, socially and in others. He shouldnt drop out. U can sue the school if u want to that way they will take cases involving bullies more seriously

Hello there oldchem1! Im so sorry about your grandson Harry. I just knew how you felt about this because me too experienced how my 6 years old daughter got bullied in school. Being in kinder 2 last year, her classmate punched, pricked and pushed her all the time. I am so sad because I can't defend her inside the classroom and the only way I could extend my help to her is to tell her stories to the teacher. After that, she would always complain about the same stories any more though her teacher separated their seats already. I am so angry that time and said to myself why this things happened. Though that boy is still young, he could always inflict pain to his classmates specially to my daughter who is a very well mannered child. After she graduated with her kinder 2 classes, I removed her to her old public school and transferred her to a private school nearby hoping that she would never encounter the same problem anymore, sad to say, I am wrong and this time her classmate who is also a girl bullied her repeatedly, This morning, I went to their clinic because she told me that her classmate slammed the door to her head that makes her in so much pain. This was the 5th offense of that same girl classmate. This girl punched her, pushed her, throw her food away and slammed her face. I already told this things to her teacher and to the principal but they always say that this things should be leave to them and they will be the one who will look after my daughter. I am so angry because, the mother of this child was so bad mannered that she thinks that her bad child is the one who never do anything to my daughter. This time, I asked for a medical certificate and im really really angry and furious to this mother/daughter tandem because my daughter who didn't know how to fight back is the one who always suffered with their bad acts. Im so dis appointed with the school's personnel because they just pretend that nothing happened as if they never take this problem seriously but i am so worried with my child's welfare because anything could happened without me knowing it because they're inside the school. I didn't really know why there's a parent who kept on denying the bad attitude of her child and instead will said lies just to protect her bad child. I am a parent who is aware by my child's action, if my child is wrong, then I will correct her. I just wished she will also feel what im feeling right now towards my daughter because this is very hard. Do not stop looking after your grandson because not all kids are harmless and innocent, nowadays, there are many young kids who are very matured in doing serious offense. Its just bad that they inflicted trauma and pain to those kids who are good and well mannered. God bless our kids...

I think that, unfortunately, some schools would rather look the other way, and pretend that a problem does not exist. They don't want the difficulty of dealing with the 'problem' child.

Dear friend, During my school days I had faced certain situation. But the school authorities strictly took this matter solved these kinds of acts. I feel it is the school authorities to take care and settle these kinds of matter before it get worse.

I think that teachers and administrators and support staff need to take some classes on bullying and why it occurs - and how to see this behavior while it is still LEADING UP to something. For instance, if you see a kid whispering or poking someone, or you notice that there's one kid in class that people laugh at constantly, then you take those kids aside and ask them what's going on. You separate those kids from each other so they can't continue the behavior, and you can do it at lunch too, making sure the kid(s) causing the problem are not allowed near the kid having a problem ie being kicked or hit or whatever. I don't know why the school didn't do anything earlier, some schools have zero tolerance for any behavior like that, other schools don't. My daughter had an incident yesterday getting into it with a friend of hers at lunch. I wasn't there so I didn't see what happened, but she said they were yelling at each other and kicking each other. Either way, they both got in trouble which I think is fair, considering neither of them should have been yelling at each other or kicking each other lol. I've already told my daughter several things regarding other kids and friends. If they want her to do something she doesn't want to do, she is always free to say no. She is always free to walk away. If they harrass or hassle her, she can again say no or she's not interested, or she can go explain to an adult that she doesn't want to be involved in whatever it is. I want her to know that she NEVER has to listen to another kid if she doesn't feel like it, especially if they are bossing her around or expecting something unfair of her. At the same time, I've told her to be gentle and understanding and compromise with her friends, do what he wants for awhile, then what she wants for awhile, or pick something you both want to do vs something only one of you wants to do. I am not a nice person when it comes to dealing with bullies, I deal harshly with the bully or the instigator, or whoever provoked the situation. I generally do not let the provoker explain anything until they have been punished for their bad decision. I do however believe that eventually, if you have been pushed around or bullied or victimized, you have the right to fight back, and I wouldn't punish someone if they were beat up daily for a week and at the end of the week, they gave the bully a black eye and a bloody nose because they were sick of getting beat up. Consequences for actions, I'm telling you. If someone hit my daughter, I would not be angry if she hit back - although I would be very angry if she hit someone unprovoked FIRST unless it was defense of someone.

It seems that schools really don't think bullying is a serious problem and they don't notice that it's getting worse. Back when I was younger, I was bullied all the time but the bullying I experienced then isn't the same as the bullying I keep hearing and reading about now. Whenever my brother and I (my brother was bullied too) would get bullied, all we had to do was tell our parents and they would talk to our teachers, and the teachers would talk to the bullies and their parents, and that would be the end of bullying. These days, blood has to be shed for the bullying to stop and I find that absolutely terrible :(

sounds like a civil matter. but if that was the case, everybody would be in court for bullying in schools. but for the bully to damage your grands tooth/teeth. something more needs to be done. thats crazy. i've heard bullying stories, but not from children as young as your grandson. in some instances bullying can lead to a lot of damage. its really to bad to hear about this. i've been picked on growing up. i think we all have. but nothin to this extreme. good luck with all