Defending Against Bullying

Dear Fellow Survivalist;

With our kids going back to school after Christmas break, I’m sure there will be bullying going on. No matter how much schools try and end bullying by passing rules against it and declaring schools to be “No Bullying” zones, it’s not going to make a difference. That’s just about as effective as making drugs and rape illegal.

As long as there are bad people in the world, good people will need to be ready to defend ourselves. For you and I, that probably means carrying concealed. But our kids can’t do that. Not only is it illegal to bring a firearm into most schools, but the law doesn’t allow ownership of pistols until our kids reach 18 years of age. There’s good reason for that law, as they don’t have the judgment to use them properly.

The good news about that is that the bullies are unlikely to have guns either. For that matter, they’re unlikely to have knives in our current school environment. But then, bullies have always depended on physical intimidation, rather than weapons. Their tools of intimidation are a larger size, aggressive nature and ganging up on the kids they want to bully.

So what do our kids do in such a case? The schools would have them become victims, expecting that their rules would be enough to stamp out bullying; but you and I know differently. Those with a criminal mindset think themselves above the law, regardless of what the law is or what their age is.

At least part of the reason why we carry is because we refuse to be victims. Shouldn’t that be the attitude that we teach our children as well? Does it make sense to anyone to allow our children to become victims in school, when we are working to ensure they aren’t victimized outside of school?

Ok, so how do we solve this problem? We can’t and shouldn’t allow our children to carry any sort of weapons in school. As I stated earlier, they haven’t developed the judgment and restraint necessary to carry them responsibly. Besides, we really shouldn’t encourage our children to develop the attitude that they are not limited by the rule of law.

That leaves our children with nothing more than hands and feet; the same weapons that the bullies are using. But you know something? Most bullies don’t know how to use their hands and feet effectively as weapons. Remember, they’re counting on intimidation to get their way. They’re also picking on kids they feel are weaker or isolated, so as to ensure that they have an advantage.

I’ve seen a number of videos on social media of kids who surprised their bullies by knowing how to defend themselves. They don’t even have to be black belts to do that. All they need is to have a bit more knowledge of self-defense, than the bullies who are coming after them. That will be enough to give them the advantage.

But there are two other important parts to this equation. The first is that our kids need to learn the necessary restraint to avoid fighting until they have no other option. They should always try for a more peaceful solution, just like you and I should try for a more peaceful solution, before drawing a gun.

The second part is that we, as parents, must support our children if they are forced into defending themselves. The current attitude in the schools is to villainize children who defend themselves, even to the point of suspending them from school. If we allow that to happen, then we are not supporting our children.

Let me be clear here. Before supporting our children’s efforts at defending themselves, we need to make sure that they didn’t act precipitously. There had to be good reason for them to react violently, such as violence being used against them. If they hit back for being pushed, that’s violence against them; but if they hit back for being called names, that’s not.

As long as their actions are in self-defense, we should back them to the hilt. When we’re called in for a meeting with the principal, we shouldn’t go in like the child who misbehaved in school (which is how they would tend to treat us), but rather as an outraged parent. I don’t mean going in there and yelling at the principal; but rather making it clear that we consider it their fault for not providing a safe learning environment for our children.

Granted, the school really can’t stop bullying. As long as there are bullies, they’ll find someplace and sometime where they can do what they do, without any risk of being caught. But by blaming the school, we change the perspective on the whole situation. No longer is it our children who have misbehaved, by fighting; but it becomes our children being forced to defend themselves, because nobody else was defending them. That brings some rationality into the situation.

Just one more tool to keep in our tool bag, No different than standing up for any other right that we have in defending ourselves. We need to exercise those rights, so that we don’t lose them; just like keeping our powder dry and our survival gear close at hand.

Dr. Rich