I was bullied all through elementary school.  I was called names, pushed and felt like I wanted to find a dark quiet place to be all the time.  I finally got to the point where I had enough.  I pushed back, slammed a boy to the ground and started making people feel what I always felt.  At some point, I realized two wrongs don't make a right, but I still didn't let anyone put me down anymore.  It made me humble, I stopped letting them get to me.

When my son started to get picked on by a kid in middle school all of the emotions of what had happened to me came back.  He would come home with bloody knees, his backpack thrown on the road so he'd have to go get it.  And as any parent probably knows, when someone hurts your children, you see red.  I waited for school to get over and I saw for myself what was going on.  I called the school but it never let up or stopped.  I felt I had to take it upon myself to make it stop being I wasn't getting help from the school.  I parked on the street my son walks up and saw it again.  I pulled up to them, my son got in the car, and I told the bully to never, ever put his hands on my son again and if he understood.  He said yes.

My daughter is only in 1st grade.  She started saying stuff like no one will sit with her on the bus.  After the year went on, I asked her who she plays with on the playground.  She said no one, only to find out that everyone was making fun of her.  Her other brother, her twin, is in 1st grade also and said they tease her and won't talk to her.  They call her stupid, ugly and make her feel bad.  I called the teacher and requested a meeting with her.  I was firm that it was unacceptable and I was not about to let it continue.  I haven't heard of any other problems since.

I think it's a shame that administrators ignore what is going on and don't help in fixing the problem that affects so many.  It doesn't just affect the children, but the families that feel helpless in keeping their children happy and safe.  It does get to the point that the kids and parents feel they have to take it on themselves to end it, only to get themselves in trouble while the original problem is swept under the rug.  I do believe people need to be educated and made aware that this needs to end, NOW!!