Are you getting de-sensitized by the word bully?

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Are you getting de-sensitized by the word bully?
Posted by Mama2ETA
on 3/31/12 at 12:41am (1 like)
Honestly, I kind of am :-/ ONLY because if someone's child gets told they dont like them, they're 'getting bullied', and for many many minor things that is just considered an argument, or kids being kids and having bad attitudes one day or another. It sucks because it makes it very difficult for all involved to tell if it is really bullying going on or an excessive opinion. It de-sensitizes the REAL bullying which should be addressed immediately, and now they take more time because they have to weed through all of the other little bickering called 'bullying'.
Are YOU sick of the over-use of the word 'bully'?
I wanted to add for those that think I am saying bullying is no big deal, it is! Just not ever attack is considered bullying imo. A child attempted to strangle my son on the bus earlier this year, and I think it was considered an attack. He wasnt continually being attacked, he wasnt even continually talked to by this child, this was a one time offense. I was bullied as a child, at school, on the bus, and at home outside by a few children the next street over. My parents switched schools because I begged long enough (years) and I personally do not agree with that. I think it victimizes a child forever in that situation. I sometimes still feel like the victim of those kids. I wish they would have done more (they tried, and I know this, but they could have done more) and shown the bullies in this case that they weren't going to win, and give me the power back that I deserved as a child. The power over my feelings and myself. It took years to get that back. Again, I clearly know bullying exists. I think too many parents think a simple argument is bullying. If bullying was a simple argument/disagreement/dirty look/one time offense/fighting then every sibling would be a bully.

Replies (1-10 of 56)

Posted by mjande4
on 3/31/12 at 2:57am

YES! It's sooo overused!!!
Posted by StevensCare4u
on 3/31/12 at 3:06am (1 like)

YEs Im one of those people who teach my kids to ignore what others say. And if I or the other parent cant address the situation, knock em out! I think kids are way to sensitive & need to be taught more self defense. IMO picking on a kid & or talking about their close is normal not bullying. Bullying IMO is when a child is being taunted for some type of disability or being physically assaulted. I tell my girls, kids arent always nice so just laugh at them. If they put their hands on them & no adult is fixing the problem, just knock em in the face! I dont want them to run to their rooms & cry i want my children to be able to take up for themselves.
Posted by auroragold
on 3/31/12 at 5:45am

YES!
Posted by Cindy18
on 3/31/12 at 6:36am

I absolutely agree with you!!

Kids will agrue and kids will pick at each other. Kids will not like everyone! It's not always bullying.
Posted by LadyBear1
on 3/31/12 at 6:55am (2 likes)

No I'm not. Our school has a serious bully problem. I don't mean the calling eachother names kind of thing. I mean kids beating up other kids in groups. And the teachers and principal are not doing anything about it. I have had to remove my children from the bus now because of bullying. Both of my sons have come off the bus with injuries due to bullies. I have had to teach my boys to fight so they can kick some butt on these other boys that are ganging up on them. Unfortunately our school refuses to call the boys ganging up on other boys bullies and do something about them. We are just told that the kids need to learn how to get along. How do you get along with 4 boys punching and kicking you?
Posted by maxswolfsuit
on 3/31/12 at 10:09am (1 like)

I can't even tell you how much I agree with you.
We are crippling our children by teaching them they've been victimized every time someone doesn't like them. I worry about what will come of society when this generation of kids becomes adults who can't deal with each other because they never to use any coping skills as children.
Posted by Strega
on 3/31/12 at 10:12am

Yes. It's definitely overused.
Bullying itself is a serious issue that I do believe needs attention. There are too many Kids feeling that there is no way out for them other than death.
But, these days, People are very quick to cry "BULLY!" after one incident, while there are Kids who are truly bullied for years and people do nothing about it.
Posted by Precious333
on 3/31/12 at 10:15am

thankfully we havent experience bullying befre but my kids are still at home. Bullying is a bit of a scary word for me honestly because I have not been desensitized by it. The only time I hear about it are real cases of bullying....either on the news or with my friend's child whose case was bad enough to get the police involved. At their school a kid actually killed himself at school because of bullying....and that school was one of the better schools in my area.
Posted by maxswolfsuit
on 3/31/12 at 10:16am

It certainly seems like what is going on there is real bullying.
But don't you think the fact that minor things are also called bullying could contribute to the school not taking action when they should? If the principal is getting 20 calls a week to report bullying it's much harder for him to investigate and handle of them thoroughly. So the real ones get lost in the shuffle with all the disputes and hurt feelings.
I'm not condoning ignoring violence. But I know how much time the administrative team at my school wastes looking into bullying situations only to find that the "victim" started it or was just as mean as the other child.
Quoting LadyBear1:

No I'm not. Our school has a serious bully problem. I don't mean the calling eachother names kind of thing. I mean kids beating up other kids in groups. And the teachers and principal are not doing anything about it. I have had to remove my children from the bus now because of bullying. Both of my sons have come off the bus with injuries due to bullies. I have had to teach my boys to fight so they can kick some butt on these other boys that are ganging up on them. Unfortunately our school refuses to call the boys ganging up on other boys bullies and do something about them. We are just told that the kids need to learn how to get along. How do you get along with 4 boys punching and kicking you?
Posted by LadyBear1
on 3/31/12 at 10:27am (2 likes)

That's my problem with it.....our principal won't even acknowledge the word bully. She says that doesn't happen in "her" school. I will agree under the last principal the word was over used and the staff was hard pressed to deal with all those situations. Under this principal I just don't see her dealing with it as if it's a real situation. She deals with everything as if it were just hurt feelings. We are actually changing schools next year due to a move and are hoping the principal will be more pro-active to the actual violent situations and not throw the word bully at everything just those situations that are actually worthy of it.