Who's Job Should it be to Stop Bullying?

Fort Myers FL

(Massachusetts) 15-year-old Phoebe Prince Hangs Herself After Being Bullied!

That recent headline sent a chill down the spine of every parent with kids in school. Why? Because we know it can happen to any one of us. On Sunday, CNN did an entire show on bullying. Last night, Fox News did a special report and online chat on the topic. 25% of students across the country say they're bullied at least once a day according to the Department of Education.

CBS news reported that at least 12 students ages 9 to 13 committed suicide in the past year after bing bullied. So, who's job is it to stop the bullies? Parents? Police? School Officials? It's a story I've written about before and many of you have commented on. What would drive a 15-year old girl with an entire life in front of her to kill herself? What mental agony could they have been putting her through? Why do kids insist on picking on other kids rather than focusing on learning? My take on this is pretty simple. It's Black and White. It's the parents.

TAKE OUR NEW BULLYING POLL - LEFT COLUMN

We can deny it all we want, and I'm no pyschologist, but we are all the products of our parents. The good. The bad. The ugly. How many times as kids did we say, when I grow up I'm never going to do what my parents did. Guess what? If we're not clones of our parents, we're pretty damn close, and as it turns out our parents knoew a lot more about life than we gave them credit for. They (now we) impact kids lives every day. The parents of the 9 students charged in Prince's death were either not paying attention at all to what their kids were doing, or worse, decided to ignore it with the old phrase "kids will be kids.

To make matters worse, bullying is much more easily accomplished these days, thanks to technology. It's no longer just pushing someone down as they walk home from school or stealing their lunch money. Text messaging and Facebook are also used to bully. Kids can be meaner by texting or through social networks because they can torment without ever having to face the person they bully. On Prince's memorial Facebook page one of her tormentors posted "accomplished".

Let me give you an example of bullying that I know about here in Gateway, without naming any names. A kid bullies another kid (off school property). Nothing physical, just scare-tactics, showing off in front off friends, at the expense of another student walking home alone. The kid being bullied tells his parents. The parent calls the parents of the child doing the bullying to try and work things out. Sometimes you can put a stop to things before they get out of hand. They leaves 3 messages and never get a return phone call. That child is a product of bad parenting. It's as simple as that.

Just like we can't expect teachers and schools to be the only source for our kids education (which is why SB6 is silly) we, as parents, need to take full responsibility for the way our kids behave with their friends. Checking their phones every night is OK. Asking them repeatedly about their friends is OK. Keeping them away from "the bad apple" kid is OK. We shouldn't be afraid they are going to rebel against us because we are being strict. You know what, they are kids, they'll get over it.