I came across an interesting topic today, should parents be held accountable if their kids are bullies in and out of school? Research has now shown that 1 in 4 kids are bullied, and as young as three.
Always suffered various persecutions as a child and do not think it has "disrupted my life forever." In fact, in my day that sort of thing even had a name. EDIT: What I am trying to say is that people are taking too seriously a question that most often is not as relevant. At least IMO.
Yeah but now with cyberbullying we're getting a whole slew of teen suicides. That can't be good for building character.
Cyberbullying is the worst form of bullying hands down. And this is why: it humiliates the victim to a whole new psychological level. But I don't think parents should be accountable for their kids if they are bullying, unless they are encouraging it.
I do. Every bully I knew in school had a shit home life, parents who ignored them and failed to discipline them. Bullying is a cry for attention. For example, one kid I knew who was a bully in elementary school had a mother who was an alcoholic and a father who was nowhere to be found. He bullied because he wanted people to pay attention to him because no one was doing that at home.
When I was in elementary school, there was this kid that almost everyone would bully. At our elementary school kids weren't allowed to wear hats at all, but he was and nobody understood why. He'd sit alone at the lunch table, play alone during recess, etc. So, one day on the bus ride home I decided to sit with him. He became my best friend through high school and we're still close to this day. Know why he was allowed to wear a hat? He lost all his hair during chemo for his cancer. I'm glad I decided to be his friend. He changed my life and I hope I added something positive to his. My point here is that while some children bully because they have a horrible family life or bad friends... some just do it because they don't understand what's going on in the world.
Are they mostly responsible for their kid being a bully? Yes. Should they be held accountable for the actions of another person? Lol what?
Parents can be partially responsible for their child's behaviour, kids who do not have a stable/good home life are more prone to develop negative conduct and behaviour, BUT, on a different angle, parents can't control what their children do at school, they might even be unaware of the kids' antics, so their friends is another factor that comes into account.When it comes about people, we are very unpredictable and our actions can be determined by an infinity of actions, so it's very difficult to point the finger at just one element. And I agree with Travz, parents can be responsible for the child's bad behaviour, but the kid is the one who should deal with the consequences on their own actions, but that doesn't mean parents have nothing to do, they do have to apply corrective methods and discipline so the kid won't keep on bullying.
Well, I know my two closest male friends were absolute shit-heads to many people in elementary and in middle school. Essentially bullies. ...And they've not had any sort of bad parenting that I can see. They're well disciplined and on their way to a very successful and bright future. So, in my experience: Not all parents are to be blamed for their child's behavior at school. At a very young age, parents should be informed and do something about it. After elementary, imo, they're old enough to have action taken upon them. But it's never a parents fault 100%
Sometimes yes, if they're aware their child is being a bullying and not doing anything to stop it. But, as others have pointed out, parents don't always know how their child acts.