"My Little Pony" backpack = "trigger" for bullying

The mom running toward publicity is a pretty good indication that we have an overly dramatic person who is probably exaggerating and/or omitting many crucial details in the story.

 

Well, taking an ass kicking for a backpack is simple assault. Bullying is much more subtle and winds up doing far more damage than one single event.

I would suggest reading this, but it's not for kids under 13 or 14.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Reluctant-Journal-Henry-Larsen/dp/1770493727

 

Or you have a parent who doesn't trust the district to properly handle bullying, which is an understandable point of view given how they handled this. Not saying she is right, but it's a bit unfair to automatically assume the worst just because she took advocating for her kid public.

 

Everything about this mom screams "publicity whore"

If her biggest concern was her child's well-being she would buy him a new lunch box and explain to him that life isn't always fair but she cares about him too much to see him get picked on or beat up.

But instead, she ran to the local TV affiliate.

 

But you don't know how they handled this. You know only what the mom says. And when these things pop up, most of the time it's a whack job parent who is behind it.

In the reality TV/Internet age where it's actually possible for everyone to find their 15 minutes of fame, usually situations like this get ratcheted up to 11 over what amounts to nothing.

 

The kid was bullied. The school responded by punishing the victim. I get that it is more complicated than that, but I can also understand a parent questioning the school's judgement in handling things that way.

Beyond that, you are making quite a few assumptions based on very little evidence.

 

You realize in history:

1. They said if the blacks just stayed where they belonged there'd be no problem and blacks (and others) thought maybe we shouldn't ask for equal rghts;
2. They said if we just kept the "retards" where they belonged, there'd be no problem and schools would be just fine;
3. They said "Miranda" rights were not needed, if you just let the police do their job, everything would be just fine.

Sure these are extremes but this is the same thing, why tell the victim to do anything different? How about not giving an inch? Educate the persecutors? Why give in at all? You tell the victim to do anything different, you are giving in to the wrong element. [My son has been bullied several times and I've even told him to change his behavior/actions, just like you are advocating but its wrong.]

 

How do you know he was bullied? Because the mom says so? Maybe she's exagerrating or this never happened. I have personally witnessed several instances of an allegation of "bullying" that is really no more than teasing. It is entirely possible -- in fact that's where the smart money is betting -- that this is one of those cases.

The school said they were looking into the conduct of the bullies but have, to date, taken no public action.

There was an incident out here last week that a transgender kid said he was beaten up in the bathroom. Outrage and statements of support poured in for two days. Then the kid admitted making the whole thing up.

 

It's a colossal jump to compare this to kids who were picked on for their race or because they are mentally challenged. Those kids couldn't do anything to change their situation. This kid can.

Would you let your son or daughter bring something to school if you knew it was going to cause him to be tormented?

 

The school did address the issue by telling the kid not to bring the backpack to school, so yes, something happened to him. Sorry, but the facts don't support your theory. My point stands. You are making assumptions based on no real evidence.

 

You are assuming the only reason he is having trouble is the backpack. That may be the case, but we don't know for sure.

Of course, this is all assuming the story is correct and that the boy was bullied. In that case, the school should be dealing with the bullies and the parents should be finding a way to get the kid to stop wearing a My Little Pony bulls-eye on his back.

 

But what happened? Was he being "bullied"? Or was he being teased for being a 9-year-old boy whose favorite TV show is aimed at 5-year-old girls?

I can see from responses to me and others that you're going all oop on this, though, so we have probably gone as far as we can go.