I’m sure many of you have seen the video or heard the story about James Willie Jones, a father with a daughter with Cerebral Palsy who confronted her bullies on the bus. Mr. Jones is in trouble for confronting and ultimately threatening the kids on the bus that were bullying and harassing his daughter.
Chatari Jones, a sixth-grader at Greenwood Lakes Middle School in Florida was being harassed daily on her bus ride to school. The bullies were spitting on her, verbally abusing her, twisting her ears and throwing condoms at her. She began to withdraw emotionally and when her parents noticed, her dad decided to take action.
The father is now charged with a second degree misdemeanor for threatening the kids and worse yet, the daughter had to be hospitalized after the incident for the stress the whole situation caused. You can watch the TODAY show story about this here.
I have mixed feelings about the situation. It’s a hard situation to understand, unless you are in the father’s shoes. Having worked with cerebral palsy children, it is really amazing to me that kids would pick on this child. What these bullies were doing to Chatari was terrible. When I was growing up, there were parents that would get on the bus and tell bullies to stop and leave children alone. It did happen and at times these parents were angry. Mr. Jones was very angry and using harsh language.
But, his daughter, one he has worked hard to take care of, was in a bad situation and certainly he was angry. So, for parents, what is the better solution? Is the father totally in the wrong?. He has now apologized for what he has done and what has been the punishment for the bullies? How do we deal with the psychological damage done to the daughter?
It is sad that kids chose to pick on this child with disabilities. Does a parent have a right to step in and handle an out-of-control situation when they feel there is no one to turn to? How could this situation be handled differently in the future? These are the questions we need to ask today and I certainly hope Mr. Jones asking for forgiveness is enough.
Bullying Stories 
As a mother of four young children, I am outraged by this. Mr. Jones had EVERY RIGHT in the world to stand up for his daughter! He has NOTHING to apologize for. His confronting the bullies and using harsh language was totally appropriate. If the bullies can taunt and call names and throw condoms at a child with a disability then surely they can take back what they dish out! Those bullies don’t deserve any kind of apology and neither do their parents. What they need is a sound a** whooping and to be taught some manners!
I completely agree with Sabrina. While I’m not a parent, I do know what it’s like to be picked on and harassed. That father had every right to do what he did. A lot of schools these days don’t do anything about bullying, it seems, and most parents of bullies seem to think their child is just the most precious thing on earth who would never dream of hurting someone else. Get them to see the light. And if it takes an angry father to do it, then so be it.
When I was harassed as a kid, my parents ended up calling the cops. Thank God. If things are that out of hand, call the cops.
If I was a parent and my child was being picked on and bullied, you’d better believe I’d be pissed off, and you’d better believe that I’d do something about it, if no one else is going to. That’s my child, and the person I’m supposed to protect. Well, then, dang it, I’m gonna protect that boy or girl. End of story.
It’s true though, that so many bullies get away with it, while those who stand up to them, be they parents or other kids, often are the ones who get into trouble. What kind of message is that sending to the bullies? What kind of message is that sending to those being bullied?
It boggles my mind that this stuff goes on.
Thanks for posting this on your blog. I wish more people would step up and do something.
I totally agree with you, Sabrina! In this day and age you’re always reading about some teenager (with or without disabilities) committing suicide because of stress. It’s necessary that SOME kind of action is taken, and it’s a damn shame that you have to go that far….but there was also a bus driver on the bus, another adult, who witness first hand what was going on. NOW that individual may be trying to just keep a job, so it’s almost understandable; but not in regards to that adult (aka the bus driver) didn’t so much as even REPORT what was going on.
AMEN!
I hope that Mr.Jones first tried to deal with it through school officials and the bus driver. If he did and that was ineffective, then YES, he did the right thing. Of course someone needs to stand up to bullies. Of course he has every right to protect his child.
Although I *hope* I would be in the frame of mind to let the school know I planned to sit and ride that bus myself, and tell the bullies calmly that their behavior would NOT be tolerated. If the school doesn’t deal with it, than a parent should. Every child deserves a safe environment. Ride that dang bus every day, if you have to.
Parents, pull your kids out of school, if you have to. Enroll them in a private, charter, or virtual school. Or Homeschool. Or move away. Protect your children!
I would agree on principle. The problem is we as parents should have the right to stand up for our children instead of always having to run to some “bureaucrat” and beg for them to protect our children. We live in a “sue happy” society and one where children have more rights than adults (especially parents). There is a problem with our country and it needs to be fixed. If my son ever bullied anyone for any reason and a parent made him soil his pants, I would walk up to that parent and shake his/her hand and apologize for my child’s behavior and assure him/her it will never happen again. We rely too much on government to solve our problems and now they are regulating the hell out of us and we see it here where a parent protecting his child is prosecuted. Praise to this father for loving his daughter enough to protect her no matter the cost.
Amen to that Ryan Thompson!!! I am not a parent however if I had a child heaven help not only the bullies of my child but their parents as well!!! If we are going to stop the bullies we need to send out the right message a very strong message. Starting with teaching how wrong it is and why. If any child is bulling another child anyone who comes to the rescue should be rewarded and the bullie, well lets say I would not want to be in their shoes. I suffered 4 girls beating on me and my justice was watching the school sweep it under the rug. That behavior needs to end as well. Schools need to be held accountable for their actions or lack of. Bus drivers need to be able to report any abuse from bullies and not worry about losing a job. They should also be allowed to stop the trouble on their busses.
I was in total shock reading this. i, myself, have 11 neices and nefews and for one them to be bullied or harmed by another child would kill me and to read that a disabled child was being misfriended by inviduals with no common sense is rediculous. my question is, is the bus driver getting arrested for doing nothing when all this was going on. where were these childrens parents to tell them not to do something. this is a lack of authority and effort from the bus driver and school. i feel that mr. james was not in the wrong. if it was up to me, i would of done it too. he has every right to be angry, hurt, and upset. these charges are stupid because i promise you if it was the judges child, or the bus drivers child or these children’s children, they would do the exact thing maybe even more. im hurt to read this but im even more disturbed that none of the children were done anything. im sorry to him and i hope that GOD does as much pain as they has caused her!
This is really sad. I am not a parent, so I cannot imagine how the instinct to protect his daughter kicked in.
I think Mr. Jones had every right to protect his daughter. I don’t know what his threats included, but confronting the children seems completely within bounds to me. Perhaps talking to the children with their parents and including an impartial adult — like the bus driver, a teacher or a member of the school’s administration would have been a more proper response. But it is hard to be reasonable when confronted with bullies of this sort. When I was in the 4th grade I beat up a kid who was picking on a student with CP. I got in trouble at school (mostly because I was the one who won the fight) even though the other kid started the physical parts of the fight. But I still feel like it was the right thing to do. And his split lip healed really quickly.
Crystal
http://www.crystalspins.com
Isn’t being spit on now considered assault? Mr. Jones should have called the police then sued the school district.
I agree with you, Sally.
Pingback: Tweets that mention Dad In Trouble for Confronting Bullies On Bus « Bullying Stories -- Topsy.com
I have a younger sister who falls into that ‘disability’ category. When we were little, I used to get into fights because other kids wouldn’t stop picking on her to the point that my mom pulled me and her and our younger bro out and homeschooled us. Kids need to be taught that this is wrong.
I agree with what the father did, maybe not the choice of words, but with what he did. He did what every parent should do. I’m surprised that the kids got off as easy as they did. He shouldn’t be in trouble for this. The kids should. Regardless.
I’ve heard all kinds of bullying stories, and my friends have been bullied, although not nearly as bad for their parent(s) to interfere. I myself luckily have never been bullied, only teased about smaller things that irritate me instead of hurt me. Mr. Jones I believe was right to protect his daughter, but I agree with Wendy @ Living Creatively on how people should deal with this kind of stuff instead of just confront the bully without consulting other adults about the situation. I feel sorry for the way things turned out for him and his daughter.
I stand behind this man. SOMEBODY has to stand up to people–yes even children–when they pick on the defenseless. In this case it’s even more outrageous because the victim has a disability…but really, would it have been any better if the same child was just poor or unattractive or had speech impediment? Bullying is a sad throwback to less evolved times.
I don’t think that this man should have to do more than apologize for his language. Certainly the other children on that bus owe his daughter far more.
Thank you for this post!!!
The father had every right to protect his child from the bullies. If anyone should be in trouble, it should be the bullies themselves and the bus driver for allowing bullying to occur.
http://www.moneyprovidesfreedom.wordpress.com
I am so glad my middle school days are behind me! But someday we would like to have kids and my husband and I have talked a lot about how we would handle bullying and preparing our child to handle a possible bully. It seems that no child is immune anymore. We have friends whose child has been bullied for being smaller than the other kids. I am wondering if there is more bullying now than when we were younger or if it is just more talked about. I know my husband was bullied as a child because of his disability and there were a few comments thrown my direction because I was overweight, but what has caused this change and such and increase in bullying?
This is a better story than the one about the mother who BEAT UP her kids’ bullies, but still an adult should have better restraint than this.
My big question is: Why the hell didn’t the bus driver do anything? You can NOT tell me the driver had no idea this was going on when it involved spitting and the throwing of condoms. The bus driver should be held accountable, as should the father.
Clearly, you have no children. Nor nieces or nephews. Or have ever been the target of bullying. Or any of the 100 other factors that would cause you to understand this fathers actions.
Being the childhood victim of bullying and ostrasizing can have more of an impact on a person than physical abuse. All adults (parents, teachers, bus drivers, coaches, etc) have the responsibility to step in when they observe such action. But schools have the responsibility to teach children that any form of discrimination is unacceptable.
I totally agree with Sabrina on this issue. If Mr Jones did handle this in a different way like talking with the parents of the bullies about what they did to his daughter, would their parents have done anything? Maybe or maybe not. There are parents that would address the problem and others that wouldn’t do a damn thing because they could care less. The bus driver and the school should definatly be held accountable because in this day and age Bullying is out of control. A lot of schools today are trying to target bullying so why wasn’t it stopped here? The bus driver could of stopped this days ago by informing the school or stopping it his or herself.
the violent reaction for the father may have overboard but i am not saying parents should not react that way, not that too much i guess. but it is also unruly to charge the father for doing such act, because what he has done that to fight for equality between disabled and physically fit people. the charge made to the father should be less in weight if not totally.
Someone has to confront the little monsters. I think he was in his right to confront them, harsh language or not. Considering these are condom-throwing brats, I don’t think being firmly confronted is going to warp their minds any more than they have been. He should be allowed to twist their little ears some after what they did to his child.
Mr. Jones had every right to defend his daughter in this way, and I don’t understand how there can be any so-called “mixed feelings” about this. I don’t respect wishy-washy wimps who have “mixed feelings” about defending children (or adults, for that matter) who are victims of bullying. Parents have both a legal and moral obligation to take care of and defend their children. Bullies should never be allowed to get away with their cruel and destructive behaviour.
The mixed feelings I speak of are how we decide to deal with the children. A parent yelling a the kids and threatening them is not much better than being a bully. That is not to say I, as a parent, wouldn’t want to react the same way. But I also think that we as adults have to be role models of proper behavior and finding constructive and mature ways to solve issues with bullies along with showing kids how to handle conflict has to be part of the solution.
The bus driver and the parents of the bullies are at fault here. My children NEVER would even think to bully another child because I did not raise them to be mean, cruel, or set that kind of example in my own actions when raising them. There may be certain exceptions (maybe a kid hanging out with the wrong kind of kids), but in my experience I have found that the parents are usually to blame for the bad behavior of their children.
My daughter and my son, both, have had trouble in school when they were young and I always nipped it in the bud by jumping in immediately. I started with letting the teachers know what was going on, but I did not drop the ball there. I watched and listened to my child and if things continued, I did not hesitate to step in DIRECTLY to the child and let them know what they were doing was wrong and would not be tolerated. I never yelled or cussed at them (not saying I wouldn’t have if the situation were severe enough to warrant it), but I was always stern and gave a menacing look that said, “I mean it!” and “I ain’t playin’!”
You do what you have to in order to protect your child. That’s your job as a parent. Do not rely on the school to do it for you. They will fall short because of their wanting to “remain impartial” or “trying to be fair.” Huh! Wrong is wrong! Bullying has got to stop. I am so glad my kids are done with all of that and so are they!
The fact that this kind of harrassment took place while the bus driver was on the bus is an indication that the school will probably do nothing about the bullies. The father had every right to confront these kids. They are mean and deserve a major suspension that will teach them a lesson they will remember for the rest of their lives.
I am a father of three and can fully understand this father’s feelings. A parent of one of these bullies should punish their kid not support them. Unless these bullies learn a major life lesson now, they are destined to become tomorrow’s low-life adults.
The school should protect children from kids like this not defend them. I hope they will support this father and punish the bullies.
I just talked about the bullying problem on my own blog (parentingfromthecouch.wordpress.com). While no, it probably wasn’t the best thing Mr. Jones could do, I completely understand his anger and frustration. The school and the bus driver should be held accountable for their non-action instead of this parent. What is wrong with these children? Maybe this is what they needed. If they are so horrible to a defenseless person, I imagine a stern talking and detention from the school administration would have done little to stop their behavior.
Those kids deserve it. I think that sometimes people are too easy on young teenagers, especially those that would be so cruel. The kids should be the ones being punished, and the father had every right to be upset. However, the rightful punishment would obviously be that these kids get treated the exact same way. They should be taken to juvi for a week, and everyday on the hour every hour they should get spit on, ridiculed, and get condoms thrown on them.
I agree with Sabrina, poster #1. I am the mother of 5 children and the day each of them were born, I became their sole protector. It is my duty to make sure they are as absolutely as safe as they can be. If I saw someone abusing my daughter the way these bullies were, well, let’s just say it would not have been pretty.
The first order of business is to take my daughter off the bus and drive her to school until this is resolved. Then, schedule an appointment with the principal – in her office – to tell our story and find out if she even knows this is going on on the buses. If she doesn’t, the bus driver needs at least a write up if not fired altogether. Next, I want the names of every student – and their parents – notified and a joint meeting scheduled at the principals office. In most cases, the parents of bullies do not even know their kids are hellions. And this might just be the beginning. Because if they want to keep pushing, I know how to do that too.
How sad. Six comments before anyone metnioned the police. My heart breaks for the father, but remember- he was dealing with MINORS. Talk to the school first, talk to the bus driver second, and if nothing hapens it is a police matter. I know the father did what he felt he had to in defense of his daughter, and I hope that the charges get dropped because of that, but he was still in the wrong.
I absolutely loved this post, why don’t you drop by my site sometime? http://mrnotsocool.wordpress.com/
I think most of us as parents would not have a hard time calling the parents of these kids and telling them, we have a problem and I am going to fix it; however, as adults we should set both the standard for how this situation is approached and how far to make our point. Though not to the extreme, I have encountered something similar to this.
Contact the parent or parents. Tell, not request, the school resource officer, head counselor or principal that you are giving them three options of times which you, the said parties and the other parents will meet at the school to set parameters on what you expect from them to help your son or daughter who is being bullied. Don’t allow anyone to call a bluff on this. Go further and file a complaint with the Juvenile justice branch of your local law enforcement against the teens who are doing the bullying. To the degree which is found in this article, spitting and twisting ears are legal forms of assault. Have a certified letter of this complaint sent to the school administrator in charge and the parents as well. This will both protect you as the the angry parent and hold up in court as appropriate attempts towards getting the job done. Make the kids and the parents examples.
With the recent attention focused on bullying in schools in general, I’m surprised this is still happening. And as someone who was bullied all throughout middle and high school, I can understand the frustration Mr. Jones is probably going through. Unfortunately, a lot of schools and school bus companies take the attitude of “if we didn’t see it, there’s nothing we can do.” My mom is a special needs school bus driver, and the company she works for pretty much told her that so long as the students weren’t making it dangerous for her to drive, she was to “let kids be kids.” And more often than not, the police won’t get involved unless the school thinks there is a problem. While I agree they should be getting involved long before it ever got to this, its not the police’s job to interfere unless the school asks for their help. If every parent of a kid who is getting bullied went to the police, they wouldn’t be able to do their job.
So with all that being said, I can understand why Mr. Jones took matters into his own hands. I’m not a parent (yet), but if my brothers or sisters were being treated like that, you’d best believe I’d be stepping in to take care of it in any way I knew how. Obviously threatening the kids was not a good idea, and I’m definitely NOT condoning that, but I do understand it. As a parent, its your job to protect your kids, no matter WHAT the threat is, and its frustrating when you realize that no one else is willing or able to do their job.
I think that it was wrong to act in anger but I understand it. The father could and should have spoken with the parents as well as the teachers at the school, and hell, even the bus driver, because the bus driver should never have allowed these actions to continue on the bus. I think that the man, while he did act in anger, had the right to take action to discourage the children from behaving in that manner, though he should have done it without threatening the children.
Frustrating. If parents don’t help protect our kids, who will? That’s why bullying is all over the news now. Too many children are taking their lives or going into deep depression because of these bullies. They should start sending them to juvenile detention or worse depending on the situation. They need to crack down on these terrible kids.
My son was thrown in jail for protecting my Middle School granddaughter from a bullying boy at her bus stop.The thing with this it is, not enough being did to protect our children going to school, in school, and after school. I just thank God my son didnot hurt this boy. The bus drivers have a tough job.I think they should have help on their bus and at bus stops.It is a epidemic of troubles in the U.S.A. schools. God Help Us !!!!
what he did should be understanable! you can tell the school but sometimes the school results in no action or they just talk to the kids but nothing is put into action, thats why so many kids end up doing the unthinkable and commit sucide. Every kid should be taught that every body is the same regardless if they have disabilities they are human beings and being a parent what people do to your kids you feel every single bit of pain they feel so it is understandable of this mans actions! loving Parents are vicous when you mess around with their kin!
I used to be a school bus driver and I had to do training that included how to handle bullies and disabled children. Clearly the bus driver did not protect the child as he/she should have. I know first hand how wild it can get on a bus, but there’s no excuse for letting things get that bad! If the driver couldn’t handle it he/she should have went to the transportation superintendant and asked for assistance or a bus monitor or something. As for the father I can’t blame him at all, although he should have tried taking another route to solve the problem before losing it on the bus. No doubt those bullies deserved what they got, and more, but now the father has charges to deal with and that just sucks! Second class misdemeanor is usually a hefty fine. Worth it I’d say!
I am so sad that this is what we have taught our children. That hate is acceptable. It is hard as a parent to take the emotion out and go through the proper channels. It is a terrible thing to send your healthy “normal” child to school to face bullies and an even scarier thing to send your child who can’t defend themselves.
Apologized!!!!!!! For what??? Those children were assaulting his daughter. She is now having to deal with the fallout of that. That is disgusting. If these kids came at her on the street??? Would he just stand by and watch it occur??? It would be called self defence then. I hear the arugments that they are just kids. Well in case you haven’t noticed kids are killing other kids these days. I pray that he doesn’t end up with a criminal record for basically defending his daughter when she was not able to defend herself. Where are the parents of these children? If I had a child that engaged in bullying not only would I not charge the father. I personally would feel shame and I would have a huge talk about what they had done wrong. Picking on someone that can’t defend themselves. Hello red flag!!!! It’s a freaking red flag for society that we protect these kids so they can continue to act in an antisocial way.
I agree with both Sabrina andbmj2k. He has every right to protect and stand up for his daughter, but I think his reaction was more anger driven than it should’ve been. Maybe he should’ve waited a day to calm down before acting
Exactly! Sue the little bully kids’ parents too. We have a legal system in place for a reason. I can only imagine father’s emotions watching his child withdraw and disconnect from him.
It’s funny that the only person taking any responsibility in this matter is the father who stood up for his kid and then apologized for letting his emotions get the best of him. I hope he gets a great lawyer and gets the charges dropped and then begins litigation on the school district, the parents, and even the children. Yes, kids do crap like this all the time, but the only reason is because anyone who finally stands up against it like this guy is the one who gets in trouble! I can’t imagine what he must be going through…
Disability or not, a bully is a bully, and it seems they are the ones with the rights not the ones they bullie. Its an up side down world, and when you fight back you are the one in the wrong. He has no reason to say sorry its the bullie that need to lower their heads in shame and say SORRY!
Those bullies need to be taught. As BMJ2K said… the father should have gone through the proper channels first. There are rules for a reason. It is sad that he is getting charged with a misdemeanor. I am not a parent, but I probably would have done the same thing. I know my dad would have.
As someone who is finishing his last year towards a teaching degree, this blog post certainly caught my eye. I must admit that I generally do not keep up with the news as much as I should, thus I had to check out the link you attached before I could weigh in my thoughts. Now that I’ve had a chance to view the clips, as well as calm down a bit, here are my two cents:
While some may argue Mr. Jones’ reaction was completely out of line, I feel he had every right to do what he did. I too, agree with Sabrina’s comments and whether his daughter was disabled or not, no one deserves the kind of treatment she was getting. Why should a man have to apologize for his actions when his daughter is having condoms thrown at her, in addition to receiving verbal and physical assaults?
As for him choosing not to bring the issue up with school administration or the bus driver first, is it really any wonder he didn’t after hearing his account of what he witnessed going on the bus? He mentions in the news clip how the bus was in chaos and obviously the driver was not doing anything active to stop such behaviour in the first place. I may only be a twenty three year old with no children of my own, but I know I would have the same reaction if I saw the same things he had. Mr. Jones even says his initial reaction WAS to speak to the bus driver, but after seeing the lack of control being demonstrated, that was his breaking point.
Granted, I will admit that issue is something which should have been brought to the school’s attention, however, in the heat of the moment it is completely understandable he reacted the way he did first. I can only imagine how hard it would be not to let emotion and the overwhelming need to protect his daughter take control, and I’m actually impressed that all he did was verbally reprimand the bullies. Okay, so maybe his choice of words were not the greatest, but in the context of that situation, it becomes pretty difficult to calmly assess the utmost appropriate way to deal with things.
Another comment already addressed the fact that some parents may or may not do anything about their child being a bully. Yes, Mr. Jones could have chosen a different route to address this situation, but what happens when the bullies’ parents do nothing to intervene?
Finally, I think it is a sad state of affairs this gentleman is now facing charges and could even land himself some prison time for what he did. Poor choice of words or not, it upsets me a great deal hearing this. I really do hope the bus driver, as well as the bullies, are held reasonably accountable and face their own set of punishment. As far as I can see, Mr. Jones is a loving father who happened to lose himself in the moment, and if his actions can land him in jail, I would certainly hope the bus driver risks losing his job. Don’t even get me started on the bullies.
So what have we learned from James Jones’ story? Deal with the behavior through the school first. Keep a log of behavior and attempts to deal with it. Find out what are the policies for dealing with bullying behavior. Be vigiliant when it comes to your child, always. I am personally going to learn how to give the “I am keeping my eye on you” stare
Bullying is a moral crime. It does untold damage to its victims on many levels. I find it interesting how many commentors feel “the school,” “the bus driver,” or “the principal” should be held accountable for what goes on when children are riding a bus. How are you parents faring in your efforts to discipline your children WHILE carrying out the multi-task of DRIVING YOUR VEHICLE? Parents not only have the RIGHT to protect and intervene on behalf of their children, they have a moral responsibility as parents to do so. Education personnel often look the other way and rationalize that there are liability issues standing in their way, but in truth there is a dangerous unwritten social rule in our culture that curbs people from disciplining kids who don’t belong to them. What EVERYONE needs to understand (parents as well as school personnel) is that when an adult stands idly by, letting such bullying atrocities happen to a child without intervening on the child’s behalf, THAT’S AN EVEN DEEPER BETRAYAL than the primary verbal, physical & emotional abuse of the bullying. It tells a bullied child, “This behavior is sanctioned by those adults around me to whom I am looking for guidance, wisdom and protection.” It’s the morality issue in bullying that most Americans don’t want to deal with. I side completely with parents of the bullied child in doing whatever it takes to stop bullying behavior, including pressing criminal charges against the parents of bullies.
I agree with those who sympathize with the father but I would hope that he would have tried going to the school or bus driver first. Kids can be really savvy sometimes and adults can be unaware of what they are doing but the driver really should be held accountable as a teacher would be if he/she couldn’t control a classroom. Those kids who were bullying need to know that the police were the next step for them. It isn’t just bullying at some point…it is assault. The one good thing to come out of this is that that girl knows that her father will stand up for her no matter what. It is hard not to applaud that alone when so many fathers are not in their children’s lives.
I am sick and tired of political correctness. This man did what needed to be done. End of story! Ask yourself, any of you who are saying he should have acted more ‘appropriately’, just what you would have done if this was your handicapped child being harassed and bullied every day. Is it the bus driver’s fault? No. Is it the other student’s on the bus faults because they didn’t step in to help? No. Is it Mr. Jones’ fault for not handling it better by giving in to the little bastards who were abusing his child and removing her from the bus — when she has every bloody right to be there! — or by turning to the school or police to intervene (and possibly make things worse for his daughter)? No. It’s those kids, and those kids’ parents faults. If I was Mr. Jones I’d be looking to sue the kids and their parents. Don’t get angry — get revenge. Best approach for a situation like this.
It is ashame that kids in America are so evil and full of hate. But this is something that is a result of the breakdown of the family unit. Used to be that the family was set up where the dad worked, mom stayed at home and took care of the family. Then came along feminism and womens rights that depicted women who were housewives as demeaning towards themselves. Women were lead to believe that taking care of family was less important than having a work life. Well, they went to work in droves and the family has gone down the tubes ever since. This is a result of kids not getting any attention at home and they seek the attention of their peers in any way possible. In this case by bullying the weak. In my day when you were bullied if you let it go on and didn’t stick up for yourself it would never end. I have fought many bullies when I was a kid. But it is one thing to defend yourself when you are physically able too. It is another thing all together when a child is incapable of defending him or herself! One thing to add. Where was the bus driver when this was going on? I would have made those kids hit the pavement and walkt o school if I was in his shoes!!!
The dad in question could have called the police and had them deal with it. But I can understand why he reacted the way he did. I think that the police should let him off the hook and maybe consider doing something about the bullies that did such awful things to his daughter.
Although Mr. Jones was enraged, and had every right to be, he still controlled himself enough not to take it to a physical level. That’s the difference between standing up for what your believe is wrong and crossing the line. I would have done the same thing. This breaks my heart. But thank god this girl has a family who has her back rather than shunning her because of her disability which is sometimes, sadly, what families do.
I am a father and cried with frustration and pain for all involved after hearing then watching the video. He may have saved the bullies from taking the wrong path long term.
Misbehavior stems from perception of existing in a vacuum. A vacuum from acting within the protection of a group or the confines of a steel car allows people to make decisions without fear of repercussion. The Dad, a mountain of a man, let these kids know they do not live inside a protective bubble and that society will police itself.
I am a single father and I believe in a simple truth when it comes to bullies. The strong have a moral obligation to stand up for the weak. Regardless of school policies, my daughter has acted out violently when someone picked on her a younger child on her school bus. I told her that even if she can’t see them there are better ways to resolve problems than being physical. However I was beaming with pride picking her up from school during her bus suspension. At least she chose to act when many do not. This father did the right thing. I know his apology was empty and I hat that he was put into a position to apologies for her actions in defending his children
I am so proud of this dad. My sister is 10 and gets mildly bullied sometimes, nothing like what these kids were doing, and I get so angry that I want to confront them. It’s wrong. Plain ol’ wrong. Kids insecurities are getting thrown on their classmates, and it’s disgusting. Schools need to crack down and make RULES about this stuff and actually follow through and punish the kids that do it.
I would like to say that it’s the parent’s fault too, and in some cases it may be, however a lot of the time parents don’t know that their child is bullying another child, and it goes without notice.
It’s sad, that our children treat each other this way.
What I think most of us consider to be the morally right thing to do is now called a second degree misdemeanor? Ridiculous. He had every right to defend his daughter.
IMHO, I love the fact that this father cares enough for his daughter to step in and do something…However, I think that he was reacting out of emotion rather than wisdom. First of all,using foul language and threatening is way out of line for anyone. A calmer mindset could have confronted the bullies and not gotten himself in trouble.
Though I admire his courage and love for his daughter, it is foolish to meddle in such a situation to a certain degree. It is enitrely possible that his actions did nothing more than provoke the bullies to worse action. I know teenagers who would not be discouraged by this, rather they would escalate.
In a world where “deadbeat dad” is a major stereotype, I admire this man. My own dad was out of my daily life pretty early on, and I would have been so grateful if he had done this for me when I was a child. I feel like buses especially are difficult places to deal with bullying. My mom drove a bus for 18 years. They are loud, kids are crazy, and the driver can’t just get up and walk around to make sure everyone is behaving. Being such difficult-to-manage zones, I think the father did the right thing to step onto the bus and tell those kids to stop.
Allow me to begin by saying, as the father of two adult daughters, I wholeheartedly agree with this father’s actions. Having said that and in so far as the main article asks probing questions, I would continue as follows. I also apologize for the length of the comment, but there is no easy answer. I have been active in the martial arts for over three decades and have and continue to teach traditional Okinawa Karate. Through the years, many parents have enrolled children in an effort to mitigate the effects of a bully. I share with you the following counsel I give them – some of which you may not want to hear.
First, keep in mind an ancient martial saying “Swat a bee and it returns a dragon.” Even assuming, arguendo that there is a short term, martial solution such as teaching you child self-defense, it simply may NOT be enough. While most perceive the solution lies in the victim “standing up for themselves”, there is an immediate danger of an escalation. In conjunction with self-defense training, there must be a type of investigation into the specific situation involved.
This should encompass, 1) the psychological make-up of the child being bullied. Is there something physical or emotional within the child that attracts the victim. In my own experience I have encountered many causes of this factor, including, believe it or not, a degrading, belittling and self-effacing home environment that the victim was subjected to. Sometimes, a boost of self-esteem and self-worth will be the catalyst for a child “standing their ground.“ In the instant case, the disability would be factor. 2) There MUST be attention paid to the psychological motivation of the bully. Many experts from FBI profilers to the author Gavin DeBecker have recognized this factor as mandatory. For example, is the bully acting on pleasure, peer pressure or as a response to abuse at home. The raison d’etre for the abuse will dictate the response and the bully‘s reaction. Without this consideration, the door to disaster is open. 3) A consideration must be given to the physical environment of the abuse. For instance, does the abuse take place in an isolated environment, or open and in full view of a supervisory figure (the bus driver) as here. This situation shows a wanton and willful disregard for authority. As such, based upon the above from a purely analytical standpoint, I think – again – the father was absolutely justified.
This is so sad. A very sad representation of what mentality is now going on toward school children with disabilities. I would like to see the parents of these bullies and hear what they have to say about their children’s behavior. These kids need to do some community service and suffer consequences for their actions! What did the bus driver do during these episodes? What on earth are the bullies learning form this situation? It’s OK to pick on people with disabilities? Yeah because it’s the poor Dad that ends up apologizing! What about the bullies? Have THEY apologized to this poor child AND her Dad for causing the family so much stress?? I wouldn’t have minded to take an old fashioned tree switch to their butts myself!!Back in the day…this NEVER if rarily happened…Bring back spanking PLEASE!!
This is awful, but I’m not surprised. Even when I was in school, children were cruel and there was nothing that most teachers did to defend those who are bullied. I was teased and tormented, because I was obese as a child. I don’t remember one teacher doing anything to stop anything. I don’t remember one teacher teaching about tolerance and compassion.
It’s nice that some have hope that this father went to officials, but that would mean that he had faith in them, and I can understand why he wouldn’t.
That father reserves the right to stand up for his daughter.
I agree that he has not on the right, but the responsibility to stand up for his daughter, but the more mature and responsible thing to do would be to confront the parents and school administration. That produces the greatest possible effect with the least likelihood for negative repercussions.
I think that he had every right to do what he did. Think about it like this if it was your kid getting bullied what would you do? Would you stand for it
Bullying is getting worse and worse. More needs to be done about it, though it’s not easily solved. As a former teacher, administration steps in a lot more when a parent comes in and complains. I believe this father had more options and could have been more effctive if he went into the school first. However, I also believe we live in a society that protects children, even the bullies, entirely too much. Like I said, bullying is getting worse, and my opinion is that children do not fear authority like they used to. They are being too harsh on this father.
The Teacher’s Desk at http://www.carlienoelle.wordpress.com
I am sick and tired of the over protection given to those who bully. Why aren’t more fingers being pointed at these little monsters who tormented this child? Why aren’t the parents of these bullies being made to apologize? This little girl is forever marked by their actions. I don’t blame the father in the least, foul language or not. Obviously, they are not innocent little angels if condoms were thrown.
I remember when my daughter was in the first grade and was beat up by 4 fifth grade girls, because she told them to stop talking about her brother. These girls were twice the size of my daughter and when I was told by my bruised and bleeding little girl, I flipped on school officials. Their answer was to band me from the school grounds, because they felt I was a threat ;and to give those girls a few detentions and school escorts for thier protection. How about protecting the victims and punishing the terrorists… no matter what age.
This is becoming a huge problem across the country, the parents of the bullies are ultimately responsible. This story is another example of how bad it is getting. Great post!!!!
Read this it is another case of bullying which pushed a girl to suicide
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/a/19667585
As an old geezer I have a different take. This school district needs a complete over-haul from the School Board and Superintendant to the school Principal and the bus driver. A total 100% replacement is in order here as, like a bad apple, this school district is rotten to the core.
I don’t know what is wrong with STATE, but it certainly needs to enact and enforce a NO_BULLY school policy. It makes me sick to think a state, a school and a bus driver think it is okay to torment and physically abuse a handicapped child. What WERE these folks thinking? Oh, wait! The answer is they didn’t think, and they don’t care as long as it is “NOT MY CHILD!” .
The bus driver, the school and the state erred. Collectively, and acting as one, they allowed students on this bus to physically harm and spit on a defenseless child. In any other state in America, this is called CHILD ABUSE.
The bullies need to be separated permanently from the general school population as students cannot learn in this type of environment, and teachers cannot teach. And neiterh can a bus drive do his job. Where was his phone? A blind eye serves no good and neither does this state. The school policy is more than flawed. It is outrageous.
I’d be willing to bet that when all the facts are uncovered, we will learn of other children who were abused and removed from this school district because of policy. And it will not surprise me to learn there were many other reported complaints to abuse.
I understand why Mr. Jones did what he did. Who wants their kids to be subjected to such cruelty?
Bullying, among other things, is a bunch of nonsense. They usually choose people they feel are scared of them or will not fight back. The situation is terrible for both parties. I only have a niece and two nephews, but if either one of them came back and told me about them being bullied then some type of action would need to be taken. I heard a while back a young child took his own life due to being bullied. When will the nonsense cease?
What a sad story, all the way around. The poor kid. I don’t know exactly what the Dad did, but sounds like he just was doing what the school system and bus driver should have been doing already–not necessarily threatening kids, but attempting to put an end to his daughter’s torment. I hope the kids who bullied the girls are disciplined, and bus drivers get more training on how to prevent this from happening again.
I think the father did the right thing. These kids have no morals and no ethics whatsoever.He stepped up for his daughter..how can this be wrong in anyway?? Personally,I think he was too angry because no body listened to him or even cared to do something about it. If he had spoken to the school officials and found no response, then I support him 10000 % in what he did.And I find it annoying that he later “apologized” for what he did. He shouldn’t have apologized for some stone hearted spoiled brats…They should have apologized to him and his daughter!!! What the hell is happening to the world?!
i hope Mr jones’s daughter will be fine.
That’s sad. I think it’s stupid how these kids would pick on another kid who has a disability. Where’s the bus driver? He should’ve done something! Oh and by the way, I’m not a parent, I’m a teenager.
I’ve talked about bullying on my blog several times, and I have college students who are writing research papers on the topic. I have my ideas as to why things are getting worse. Truly, it’s like frogs are the indicators of what is wrong in the environment, bullying indicates everything that is wrong with society: too much technology, too much teaching to the test and not enough actual learning, not enough civility, and lots of parents who don’t care … or parents who THINK they care, but in reality they care more about having their kids win their hockey games or win their soccer games than they do about teaching decency.
Come check me out and search bullying!
Lessons From Teachers and Twits!
http://rasjacobson.wordpress.com
The father has every right to get angry. Why not blame it on the crazy stupid kids who were bullying her daughter? I hope bullying, not just in schools but all places, should be strictly prohibited and should be always addressed. Bullying never results to anything good, it creates monsters.
He had no other recourse. We all know going through things the bureaucratic way does nothing. These supposed anti-bullying rules and laws are such BS, honestly. They’re not stopping bullying, not making bullies accountable for their actions, and not making kids feel safer.
Nope. The guy was wrong! He went too far. He scared the crap out of kids on the bus who weren’t involved. He threatened to kill them. He didn’t even try to get authorities involved first. He didn’t try to get their side of the story first. His daughter could have been so scared of his rage that she pointed out somebody who wasn’t even involved because she was afraid of the real bully (or he wasn’t there that day). This is how lynchings happen. That’s absolutely the wrong way to approach it.
I suspect he was, in reality, angry at himself and feeling guilty because he hadn’t done something about it before it got to the point where it was seriously affecting her.
I was bullied mercilessly as a child and I still have some very deep wounds from it to this day, but I would NEVER have approved of my father acting like a mad man! In fact, one day, in the eighth grade, I got so frustrated I took it out on a complete stranger who I tripped and he fell down a couple of steps. The guilt I feel over that haunts me even now. That’s the kind of thing that can happen when you over-react to bullying. You end up taking it out on an innocent person.
There is a boy who is quite challenged attending my 2 daughers school. His parents, his mother, his teacher and his sister organized an “Empathy” session in the school gym so that all the children could hear about him, ask questions about him and learn how to communicate with him etc.
I would have intervened if my daughters were in this position, being bullied on the bus. I was bullied in school and I hated it. I always told my children that I would homeschool them, if they wanted me to. But so far, things are ok. But I think it would have been a good idea to talk to the teacher, the bus driver, the school officials or just drive the child yourself. In Australia, I heard of a landmark case where the parents of a bullied child took out a restraining order on a bully and the school had to ensure they were always 20 metres apart (or something like that). I loved hearing that. Some parents teach their children empathy, kindness, love etc., while others either don’t care or are too busy working and struggling to get through life to be able to guide their children. In some ways, I think there should be more consequences – like picking up garbage, or having to help the child with challenges to carry their bags/books or even being forced to visit the hospital and write an article on cancer patients etc. Something to teach children empathy…
Pingback: T(something) Tuesday « In Favilla et Cinere
I think the dad went a little too far with threatening the kids (I read elsewhere that he threatened to kill them), but otherwise, he was in the right. If the school system wouldn’t do anything, someone had to. I wonder if the bullies’ parents knew that their kids were bullying a disabled child. I can bet they were all saying, “My precious angel would never do that!” I actually know a mother who said that when she was told her son was suspended for harassing another student.
“Precious angel” my darn foot!
I heard two people talking about this on the bus, and one of them said beat the (expletive removed) out of the bullies. That will stop the problem right there. O.K but then what. Yea I think the bullies should be bullied at some point. But I suppose that will never really help anything.
Bill – The father didn’t touch any of the kids. He only yelled at them. I think that’s an important distinction and one that you should correct with your friend.
Dad did what he felt he had to do to protect his child. No appologies necessary.
Good for the daughter. She finally had enough and spoke up; told her parents and stood up for herself.
That is what you learn in school aside from math and science. To interact with people and to stand up for yourself.
I bet the dad’s “sermon” put the fear of God in those kids. And hopefully their parents got the same message.
If the father can’t protect the child, who can/should? What was the bus driver doing? How old are these kids? Throwing condoms? Give me a break. Something is really wrong with this story.
Try being viciously verbally attacked by an insane father (I saw the video….he went insane!) as a child and then tell me it’s ok for a father to do that to innocent children…..for ANY reason!
Nope. The guy deserves to be charged with a crime. We live in a civilized society. We’re not a bunch of savages.
In a bigger picture:
Between the citizens and the government there is an implicit contract. Among the items of this contract in most western countries is that the government has a monopoly on violence and in return carries the obligation to stand up for the rights of the citizen (in those cases where he in the days of yore would have used violence to defend himself) through e.g. the court system and the police force.
What can be observed again and again, however, is that the government does not carry its end of this deal. Too often the citizen is left with lesser means to defend his rights than in earlier days. This is one these cases.
(Lest there be any misunderstanding: This need not imply that the net-benefit of the contract is negative for the citizen. Notably, the number of cases where he is exposed to something requiring a forceful response in the first place is likely diminished considerably.)
At the same time the above events point to an increasing “over-PCification” of society. (link added by comment provider and reference to link removed by site author due to site policy.)
I note that the blog owner has edited my comment to (at least) remove a link to a third-party opinion.
While the removal of links can be justified through an anti-spam policy (although I consider these highly inadvisable when extended to links in general), it is unethical to publish comments in an altered form without clearly indicating the type and scope of the change(s).
So sorry, Michael. You are right. Your comment originally showed up in the site SPAM and I altered it to remove the link so your comments could still be posted and not be considered SPAM. I will renote your comment to show the removal. If you are still unsatisfied with that solution, let me know and I will remove the comment entirely.
growing up with a disability..i was subject to the ridicule that she may have experienced…however I was able to defend myself and I turned the tables on all the “bullies” I had encountered, which became a good and bad things because it turned me into one…anywhoo I believe that dad did the right thing kids need to be put in there place every once in a while a lil humbling experience is good.
also i dont agree bullying is getting worse…its just diffrent with technology these days.
I think the dad only reacted by what he felt at that moment, without thinking what could be the possible scenario he or his kid might get in. It’s like first-hand reaction of a parent protecting his/her child from all the dangers. Although I just hoped that the dad addressed this concern first to the school officials.
AMEN!
I’ve spent 3 years of “front line” battles for my son against bullies and a school whose principal dismissed the seriousness of the reality. Victims pissed on, verbally harassed daily, physically assaulted and yet what they offered to us when we went to them were the empty platitudes of how their school had tops honors and awards in academics regarding so-and-so. Our story is here http://bit.ly/9QxHMn
I can just say when you reach a point, as I did when your child has attempted suicide over bullying, you are instinctual to take action. When schools, school systems or principals brush away your concerns and you’re living with the daily agony of the negativity such bullies produce in your beloved child or children…you must take action. I might not have reacted as this father did. I would likely have totally stopped my child riding the bus and taken them to school myself, but I would have demanded immediate attention to the problem. Likely this man’s child was not the only one suffering from such sickening behaviour.
Well done Mr. Jones. Those bullies don’t deserve any apology.
Those kids need to be educated. Broken families certainly may result to a child’s negative behavior. On the other hand, Mr. Jones does have the right to react but not on the extent of creating such misdemeanor.
This is a big dilemma, really. If you put yourself into the father’s shoes, you would have acted the same way (or less) I guess. But then, it’s wrong. We are but only human with emotions, and we have to protect our family.
How much do you want to bet that if the bullying was racially targeted, that this story would have a different outcome?
I’m a student.
The strange thing that as I read this post is about the bullies. How in the world did they get their hands on such items (condoms especially, these people aren’t even in high school yet, though personally, I won’t ever touch one till I’m 18), and also learn such behavior?
It would be easy to say that these children like bullying because it’s gives them a sense of power over others, and this feeling is intoxicating. It would also be equally easy for people to say that these children were taught wrong.
Personally, I would say that when two people come together, they usually end up causing much more trouble when they are alone. Group mentality and mob-fueled teasing alike, sometimes it’s not just the children themselves at fault, the people around them end up egging these people on into worse situations. Daring someone to doing something, which unfortunately goes wrong. Of course, I don’t approve of the actions, and neither am I defending these ‘bullies’ in the article either. The point is, never take anything at face value. A lot goes on behind the back of adult society in schools and their various social circles, regardless of how involved a parent can ever get.
I’d also stare at the teachers, who usually won’t notice such things, because teachers only see their students every few hours a day. There are all the other hours of the day for such actions to happen. School as a whole would cause some of the trouble, because teachers can never notice everything. In all schools I’ve been in, there were always some things going on which goes under the radar. Even in the school I am in now, students still can go around teasing students and teachers stay oblivious to such incidents, but I digress.
On the main point of the article, it’s really warming that a father chooses to stand up for his daughter. Never mind that the bullies are apparently under state law which the father has unfortunately woken the wrath of. I just wish for a rather happy ending, or at least highlights how the situation can get out of hand.
I think all the parents of each kid needs to have a sit down address this situation with everyone in the room as a conference.
Unfortunately I can’t watch the show and maybe I don’t know the whole story, but I think that what the father did was very natural and a good thing, no doubt about it.
But what I don’t understand is how the bullying had gotten so far! It’s quite visible and obvious when kids are throwing with condoms!! Why didn’t anyone else step in (EARLIER)?
I’m a teacher and I’m always alert on bullying, when a child is bullied I step in. The earlier you interveen the better, so what happened here!?
That the father is now being charged just showes how crooked the world (sometimes) is!
My little one is only 15 months old but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will do whatever is in my power to protect her. Without apologies. If I don’t protect her and look after her, who will? Surely that is my right and responsibility as her mama to do that?
Pingback: SUICIDE EVENTS « Magcalcauvin's Blog
Hufh, i think we should take care for his daughter, it will make her so sad andgive traumatic effect …
I understand where this man is coming from, I would have probably smashed those little brats heads in. Saying that, he was in the wrong, the way he handled it was completely immature and caused more damage.
bullies should be bullied too… america isn’t doing a darn thing about this.. americans should discipline their children the old fashioned way, where it’s still ok to punish bad kids with a stick or leather belt..
I can’t imagine how he felt, but he was not in the wrong. Those bullies need to learn the lesson the hard way and grow up.
Situations like this you have to think what would I have done in the same situation? I would have felt to do the right thing by child and to protect them therefore I would have done the same and I guess most people would share this opinion. Great article, also check this one out i read the other day: http://bit.ly/8XeEEp
Am with the Dad by all means. The process of taking the things through the school, bus driver and police might drag the entire things and his daughter would’v had suffered more by that time and am sure not much severe action would be taken (with lack of evidence & appeal as usual). We as parents should understand our kids and to take responsibiity of growing up a responsible future generation. At one point or another we all have faced a bad situation with a school kid either a part of their so called ‘fun’. We should STOP this.
I agree– I’m torn. Now it seems that the bullies “Win” because the bus driver and school system did nothing to protect the daughter.
Other options:
Dad talk reasonably to bullies.
Dad talk to bullies’ parents.
Dad complain loudly to school officials & demand protection.
or
Dad empower daughter to yell and scream for help when being bullied to empower the child, the victim, even with cerebral palsy.
Why didn’t she have a special bus?
What kind of school has such a school climate?
Teachers and the school system take bullying lightly and once we can be honest about that, then things might change. I’ve been in many situations where I’ve seen and heard the parents of the bullies cosigning their bad ass children’s behavior; I’ve heard teachers say “if I didn’t hear it then it didn’t happen”; I’ve heard teachers AND parents say “stop whining” when told by student/child that they were being teased; and I’ve heard stories of teachers witnessing the bullying and doing nothing.
Did this bus driver report anything? Probably not.
Did he sit and watch this disabled child get treated like shit? Probably yes.
It looks like there’s video footage, did the school at one time do anything about the footage that was caught BEFORE the father got on the bus? It’s awfully suspicious that footage of the father being in the act is used but where’s the footage for the previous bus rides? Did school officials do something about what they saw on this video the days leading to dad? Probably not.
Until you wack ass parents train your ignorant ass children better, these incidents will continue. Until you schools take this bullying more seriously, these incidents will continue. If you’re not going to protect our children then we will. “We” meaning father’s like this man and potential mother’s like me.
We leave our children in the care and protection of the schools.. if they’re not fit to do the job then oh-effing-well. I will.
I’m a teacher from the Netherlands (now working in China) and during my study and later at my school we are trained to detect and handle bullying. I can’t believe teachers don’t care! How can people just let these things go on? Of course I’m only human and I’ve probably missed some cases of bullying (since its not always so out in the open, sometimes is almost invisible). But it is not too difficult to detect and handle these cases as teachers and as the school system, as long as everyone works together on sending the message that bullying is NOT OK!
The kids that bully know full well that what they are doing is wrong and the kid that is bullied knows it deserves better!
I agree with the father, and most of you here, if the school does not step in you have to do someting! Children need to be safe and feel safe to be able to grow up and learn!!!
If you really want to know why bullying is allowed to take place, check out this link. http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue.htm
John Taylor Gatto is a well-decorated, well-recognized former school teacher. When you see what he observed in the school system, it is obvious why they don’t really care about your children’s well-being.
We home educate for many reasons. This book, which we recently discovered, affirms our decision. We also got to hear Mr. Gatto live at a recent online Homeschool Expo. He is an amazing man who loves children and wants to see them stop being hurt by the school system. Even in his 70’s, he is still fighting for the children.
Parents need to get this information if they are going to continue to send their children to public schools…which, by the way, are not really “public”. Check it out, PLEASE, for your own children’s sakes!
I noticed a lot of people saying how the father should have first contacted the school or the bus driver but what happens to his daughter while school officials drag their (expletive removed) to figure out what’s happening? Why should he sit back and wait to see what happens? I have two children and the first thing I would do in a situation as extreme as this would be to confront the kids themselves and see if I could put a little fear into them.
Obviously the problems start at home. My kids are very respectful, polite and kind. They’re that way because I raised them properly. Parents are much too lenient on their children now. As a child I was afraid of making my dad upset because he had quite the temper, although he never hit me. A little bit of fear can go a long way.
What was done with those disgusting children? Where were the assault charges against them? Where were there apologies. Good on Mr. Jones! He had every right to protect his daughter, especially since the system failed her so completely. He should be commended for not smacking those nasty brats in the process. Society should be applauding him, not harrassing him.
In an ideal world, the Dad should have first contacted the school officials and parents of the bullies, but this world isn’t ideal! He had every right to protect his daughter. Obviously the bus driver wasn’t doing anything and wasn’t going to. Where is footage of the bus before the dad boarded?
Why do these kids have condoms? Seriously? I would like to see the parents of the kids that were doing the bullying!
Pingback: Dad In Trouble for Confronting Bullies On Bus « Bullying Stories « Bill's PEA Soup
Sometimes, law is just so unfair. It’s so easy to point the finger at the father, but what about his child’s right.Ideally the parents of the bullies should do something responsible, and the school authorities too. They As for judges and court, it’s all a daily drama. whatever happened to proper etiquette and basic manners. Maybe this is one matter that the media can help resolve the issue !!
i was bullied very horrible in the 7th grade by a group of boys. when i fought back the older bully he knocked me out then he and his group of boys tried to jump me because they couldn’t punk me. Needless to say i have girls on is a mixed martial artes the other a boxer. my youngest is 14 when she was being bullied, she told repeatedly nothing change then the fight happen the looks on there well whooped asses was priceless and i was there to see it funny thing is i tried to stop the ring leader but she got passed me they other four i stopped.
are kids have to be taught to fight back the schools will not protect them oh and my 14 yr old girl a and b student all the way
I think Mr Jones was only trying to help a child who couldn’t help herself. Whilst he is guided by a moral compass, and even found it within himself to apologise to the offenders, I can’t help but think how further emboldened bullies become when they now know that even adults cannot touch them. And on top of that, adults trying to stop meanness face consequences for their actions, whilst bullies who live off meanness face none. We need to stop this contorted world now!
I usually don’t post in Blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work.. beautiful …
Bertrand Russell~ Man needs for his happiness not only the enjoyment of this or that but hope and enterprise and change.
Thanks for sharing the insightful analysis. Great stuff man.
A round of applause for your article. Cool.
If I were the dad i would have gave them nut shots with my steel tipped boots
lol when a girl like u and they scared to tell u well i got one and she like me