Bullies have existed since time immemorial, and they still exist everywhere, from the workplace to the community, and as always, in the schoolyard.
It would be nice if that unpleasant reality of interpersonal relations could be eliminated, but the question is how.
Bullies don’t usually respond to reason or cajoling, but they often do respond to brute force. Many of us remember being tested by the school bully, finally standing up to him and planting a solid punch right on his nose, and suddenly seeing the bully turn into a reasonable, even pleasant human being. This applies to raising kids in general, where the bully child constantly tests the parent and sometimes only responds to brute force rather than cajoling and pleading.
The problem is that liberals and lefty politicians have fallen for the whole “self esteem” movement, so kids are given way too much power and never experience a reprimand more forceful than a “time out.” And to make sure that is so, laws have been passed so that any discipline more forceful that “let’s reason together, Johnny,” or “please go to your quiet spot Susie” is seen as violent child abuse, to be punished by incarceration or having the children removed from the parents care. Now a new city ordinance in Shawano, Wisconsin puts parents in a double bind, and there is a good deal of confusion and disagreement about how fair the ordinance is.
Chile discipline in Shawano, page 2
Teach your kids not to bully and to stand up for themselves if they get bullied. Simple as that. Next thing you know the federal government will be involved in it.