How far would you go to protect your kids?

If a kid were that annoying to my sprog, I would probably make him shit himself without laying a hand on him, and he’d move on

I am inclined to say the kid actually deserved a good beating, and maybe it was reasonable if all other interventions (the school, the police, the kids’ parents, pleading to the kid yourself) didn’t work. I would never serve on a jury, but slap her on the wrist and be done with it. She was clearly dealing with dysfunctional institutions, and certainly doesn’t deserve a life-long criminal record.

I’m sympathetic to her. And while I realize that the rule of law needs to be followed, and I don’t condone violence, I almost think her punishment should be washing out the kids mouth with soap.

I say, good for her. Maybe that little punk needed the rod of correction, perhaps he turned out that bad because he didn’t get enough when he was younger. However, being in the society we Are, I would say the better way is to hit his folks in the pocket book, get it on tape and sue them back to the Stone Age.

So, the kid said some mean and hurtful things, and she responded by choking him, and somehow he’s the bully?

I feel zero sympathy for this woman. She deserves to go to jail and lose custody of her kid, since clearly she has a lack of basic respect for other human beings, especially of the child variety.

I would teach them to defend themselves. I know there will be times when I won’t be around. The computers should never be allowed in the bedrooms of minor children. Keep them out in a common area.

I do sympathize with her, but I don’t condone what she did. That doesn’t mean I might not lose it if I were in a similar situation, but I really hope I could control myself. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see your child in so much pain, and if the cause of that pain is right there in front of you, showing his ass… it’d be awfully hard not to punch him. But, really… there is just no excuse for putting your hands on someone unless it’s in self defense. Her punishment should be whatever it normally is for a minor assault.

Obviously I don’t think that was the best thing to do and she should be punished just as anyone else would since she broke the law. But it’s not as if she set out to do it. I can’t imagine how frustrating the situation she was in must have been. Doesn’t mean that was the right course of action, though.

However, I’m tired of people, namely bullies, thinking that they can do whatever they want with absolutely no consequences. And the kind of response the mom was getting in her attempts to stop the bullying showed that there were many other people who believed that no consequences should come from it as well. I don’t feel bad for the little brat at all. Karma’s a bitch. Sometimes it strangles you.

We need to teach children to be kinder by example. I understand some kids push, test, taunt but choking anyone especially a young adult is wrong, no-one has the right to put their hands on any body else period. For example do you spank a child to teach him not to hit other kids? Absolutely NOT! Two wrongs don’t make a right. There are ways to block this individual from contacting people that would rather he didnt. You can report abuse/cyber-bullying to your server, enough to his domain and he will be shut down. Where are the other kids parents? its sad….

I would send my daughter off to karate and then let her do a number on the bully. I know, no one thinks violence acceptable but sometimes it is the only way. You have to learn to stand up for yourself in this world and you are a lot better off if you learn as a kid. 40 year old doormats are not attractive. The touchy feely approach just does not always work. As @woodcutter says, what is she going to do when her mom’s not there to fight her battles for her.

There’s a comment on there by a guy called Class Warfare, and he makes some good points. If your child is being bullied, and you do nothing about it, you’re wrong. If you contact officials, they do nothing about it and it continues. If you take matters into your own hands, you’re wrong. This is why the bullying continues.

In the article, the other kid’s mom says Piscitella never contacted them directly and if she did, the other mom would have done something about it. That’s logical, and that mom makes a good point.

It’s hard to say what I would do in this instance. I would hope I wouldn’t resort to losing it and choking a kid but to see my child in pain like that would be tough. I would probably be back in the school office demanding they do more. That’s a better route to take, I think.

I have a young child who will be starting public kindergarten soon. We live in a really nice, affluent school district, and although it seems like a nice place, bullying is everywhere and I hope that this type of thing never happens to my daughter.

Helen Back, she’s a parental advisor on such issues….or maybe I just made that up for comic effect.

If I were on her jury, I would convict her.