The right way to stop a bully

[Aliantha]

If my kid acted that way towards his peers, I'd break his leg myself (or at least tan his hide a fair bit). There is no way I'd put up with that sort of behaviour from any of my kids, and I'm with Flint on this. There'd be no sympathy from me if they happened to get their comuppence.

You might say this is just theoretical, but it's not. My boys have all taken their knocks over things they shouldn't have done and they've had to suck it up with nothing more than concern over the immediate injury from me and a big fat, "I hope you've learned your lesson since my warnings weren't enough for you".

They hold their own, but they're not bullies and that's all I expect from them. I wouldn't condone them breaking another child's leg, but I certainly wouldn't censure them if I knew they'd been the victim of bullying. Children should feel that it's ok to stand up for themselves, and ultimately, we all know that telling someone in authority that you're being bullied rarely, if ever has a positive outcome.

eta: When Aden and Mav moved school once, the smart mouth little bully taunted them on their way home for weeks calling them 'nigger' because of their dark skin. They and I made complaints to the school about it but it continued until Aden snotted the kid, after which the potty mouth magically closed.