Stories never want to deal with bullying the way it actually gets dealt with, because they want to let the kids have agency, and in real life, kids who are victims of bullying generally can't fix it. (Kids who have social power can use that power to bring a bullying victim into their circle, if they choose, but that's a different story.)
When Molly was in 2nd grade she was being bullied on the bus by a slightly older girl. She did not tell us. A 4th or 5th grade girl who got off at the same stop did tell us, and I called the school. The bully got pulled into the vice principal's office, admitted it, and was given a one-day suspension from riding the bus and told that she needed to knock it off. And ... this worked. When the bus driver changed in January the kid started up her bullshit again but this time Molly told us immediately, because the adult intervention had helped, previously. The kid got another talking-to, and once again that fixed the problem.
The thing that's kind of weird is that there's a message in a TON of children's fiction that talking to adults is useless, that this isn't something that anyone can fix, etc. When in fact sometimes all that's required is an authority figure saying, "your shitty behavior has been noticed: cut it out."
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branchandroot
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Date: 2020-08-27 03:30 am (UTC)When Molly was in 2nd grade she was being bullied on the bus by a slightly older girl. She did not tell us. A 4th or 5th grade girl who got off at the same stop did tell us, and I called the school. The bully got pulled into the vice principal's office, admitted it, and was given a one-day suspension from riding the bus and told that she needed to knock it off. And ... this worked. When the bus driver changed in January the kid started up her bullshit again but this time Molly told us immediately, because the adult intervention had helped, previously. The kid got another talking-to, and once again that fixed the problem.
The thing that's kind of weird is that there's a message in a TON of children's fiction that talking to adults is useless, that this isn't something that anyone can fix, etc. When in fact sometimes all that's required is an authority figure saying, "your shitty behavior has been noticed: cut it out."