My brother used to play with the son of my parents’ friends.
One day, I was with my parents and their friends, eating lunch when screaming erupted from the playroom. The friends’ child ran out, clutching his cheek, tears flowing down his face. His parents uncovered his face and found teeth marks on his left cheek. My brother was reprimanded.
When my parents, brother, and I left immediately after the incident, we found out that the other child had been putting down and pushing my brother around until my brother simply became fed up with it and fought back (violently, I might add). But even so, my parents and I felt it was still not right to attack the other child so brutally.
Then, (to my horror) these two children played again when we visited these friends. I was just passing by the playroom when I heard the child call my brother “gay” (obviously as an insult), a “dumbass”, a “mofo”, and so on. I knew then that I had to discourage this behavior somehow, so I asked the child to stop. But that evidently had no effect. This child simply would not listen. When I told his parents about this other incident, they simply shrugged it off.
Doing nothing about bullying is as damaging as encouraging it. Please, if you are the parent of a child who is displaying bullying behaviors, at least think about the damage their actions could incur on both other children and themselves.
- Allyson