Are kids this mean in other countries :(

Hugh Freaking Dillon

this scares me, particularly because of my 12 year old nephew. He was a premie, so he's a bit socially delayed (connected or not, whatever). He gets bullied all the time at school because he's "weird". My sister in law cries constantly about it. But he has found friends in the neighbourhood and their church, so that's good. But not many friends at school makes for a LONG school year.

He's an only child, and I get really concerned for his mental well being.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

can you imagine losing all 3 of your kids, two to suicide and one to a drug overdose??? Motherf**ker. Actually, I know a woman (distant relative) who lost her whole family. Her daughter drank a bottle of some chemical that seh thought was vodka (it was in an old vodka bottle in the garage), her son killed himself, and her husband died of cancer.

Left with nothing. No one. She's a recovering alchoholic. Can't say I blame her.

haffajappa

Hmmm... that's weird...

When I signed the contract for my iPhone last month I think I missed the clause that said user may be subject to bullying...

haffajappa

Thinking of the differences between the 70s/80s and now, if we're talking about the parents and involvement, it might be because of the way things are and the cost of living. I mean, how many people do you know have a stay at home parent? I have a few friends that were lucky enough to have their mom home all the time and live off their father's income, but I think most people in this day and age can't get away with it... So lack of parental involvement might stem from the fact that they just can't be there...

redrock

haffajappa wrote:

So lack of parental involvement might stem from the fact that they just can't be there...

Don't think it's just a lack of parental involvement. Plenty of families where both parents work have fine kids. It's how you spend your time with your kids and what you teach them. I think one of the big differences is the lack of community and community involvement. When I was a kid, if someone of the neighbourhood saw you do something 'naughty', either your parents knew before you got home or you were taken back home by the scruff of your neck by said neighbour to face the wrath of the parents. Nowadays, everyone turns a blind eye.

Digital Twilight

redrock wrote:

haffajappa wrote:

So lack of parental involvement might stem from the fact that they just can't be there...

Don't think it's just a lack of parental involvement. Plenty of families where both parents work have fine kids. It's how you spend your time with your kids and what you teach them. I think one of the big differences is the lack of community and community involvement. When I was a kid, if someone of the neighbourhood saw you do something 'naughty', either your parents knew before you got home or you were taken back home by the scruff of your neck by said neighbour to face the wrath of the parents. Nowadays, everyone turns a blind eye.

Hit the nail on the head there I think. Respect isn't taught anymore. So many parents think their only job is to feed them and but clothes on their backs, nothing more.

Byrnzie

eyedclaar wrote:

I swear to god that if I was the parents of these kids, there would be more than one funeral taking place. The part about the bully girls laughing at the funeral... heads would have rolled. And I don't care if someone thinks that is wrong.

If that was my daughter and I saw those two girls laughing at her body I'm pretty sure I'd end up in jail.

It makes you wonder what those scum bags were doing at her funeral in the first place.

Hideous little brats.

catefrances

when we send our kids to school we do so assuming theyll be looked after and out for. i would hope that if my kids were ever bullied theyd let me know... but im not sure they would. the main reason for any reticence would be that they know what this momma bear is like in defense of her young.

haffajappa

redrock wrote:

haffajappa wrote:

So lack of parental involvement might stem from the fact that they just can't be there...

Don't think it's just a lack of parental involvement. Plenty of families where both parents work have fine kids. It's how you spend your time with your kids and what you teach them. I think one of the big differences is the lack of community and community involvement. When I was a kid, if someone of the neighbourhood saw you do something 'naughty', either your parents knew before you got home or you were taken back home by the scruff of your neck by said neighbour to face the wrath of the parents. Nowadays, everyone turns a blind eye.

Hmmm, that's very true!
Both my parents worked long hours (and still do) and my brother and I turned out fine. I think anyways lol

tremors

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

i think the main difference between the 2000s and the 1970s is that technology has made bullying worse nowadays. i know in the late 80s when i was bullied, when i got home it stopped. sure i got prank calls and my house got tp'd a few times, but when i got home the harassment stopped. nowadays kids have cell phones, facebook, twitter, etc so they can not escape. they log into facebook and see what other people are saying about them and that hurts them, they get texts because the bullies are not calling the home phones anymore, it never stops and the kids can not get away from it. i think it is much more difficult to be a kid now than it was back then. life was so much simpler then and it was easier to escape. there is no escape today unfortunately...and school districts need to recognize that and take appropriate proactive preventive action instead of having to react to the problem. like this school...one suicide= tragedy, 2 suicides= conicidence?? 3 suicides= big systemic fucking problem...

This is very true, and a growing problem in the UK as well. I don't think 'switching off' is an option, because a lot of the bullying is increasingly proactive and aggressive - ie not just talking about someone - but sending targeted messages to cellphones, direct messages to the victim's social networking accounts - they could unplug everything, but then lose all their real friends as well. Also, just because they are not participating, doesn't mean the bullying slackens off - the bullies can whip themselves into a kind of frenzy online - it IS so much easier to 'gang up' on a vulnerable person these days, using modern technology. There are idiots filming bullying and beatings and putting it up on youtube and everyone can join in for a laugh - if young people do become a target they are in real trouble. I don't know what the simple solution is unfortunately!

tremors

Digital Twilight wrote:

redrock wrote:

haffajappa wrote:

So lack of parental involvement might stem from the fact that they just can't be there...

Don't think it's just a lack of parental involvement. Plenty of families where both parents work have fine kids. It's how you spend your time with your kids and what you teach them. I think one of the big differences is the lack of community and community involvement. When I was a kid, if someone of the neighbourhood saw you do something 'naughty', either your parents knew before you got home or you were taken back home by the scruff of your neck by said neighbour to face the wrath of the parents. Nowadays, everyone turns a blind eye.

Hit the nail on the head there I think. Respect isn't taught anymore. So many parents think their only job is to feed them and but clothes on their backs, nothing more.

A lot of the troubled youth I've worked with in supportive accommodation projects / hostels etc, often with aggressive / bullying / criminal behaviour themselves had received really bad parenting; but it was typically not of a 'too soft' kind, but way too tough; abusive, violent, neglectful. I could have rolled about 30 young men's stories into something like this: 'Stepfather marries his mother, dislikes having him around, wants to spend time shacking up with his mum, tells him to piss off out of the house every evening, gives him a few pounds for cigarettes if he does, gives him a kicking at the weekend when stepdad is drunk - for getting 'under his feet' - throws him out of the house when he reaches the age of 16 / 17 - mother not strong enough to stick up for the lad, and in a difficult situation herself... kid arrives with us with nowhere else to go, and sets about getting into all sorts of trouble and making life miserable for the less tough residents.' Classic cycle of abuse I guess....

I agree there are many factors at work - poverty, collapse of 'social cohesion', increase of brutalised and brutalising values, absent fathers, sex, drugs, grown men who can't take any responsibility for managing their own issues and emotions....