Seriously…
I was reading an article today about a boy who was temporarily suspended from school for kicking another boy in the ‘groin’. He was 7 and suspended…I suppose I can try and understand that punishment…it is not appropriate to engage in that type of problem solving, after all we want our 7 year olds to learn correct problem solving skills. Oh, wait, did I forget to mention that he was defending himself from a bully. In the world I grew up the bullying part of the equation would put a whole other twist on it…
He was initially charged with…wait for it, wait for it…sexual harassment.
We definitely don’t live in the world I grew up in anymore.
When my youngest son was in afternoon care at his elementary school he had another boy bullying him. Now, they had a bullying program…to teach kids what to do when bullied. This consisted of the ‘wheel of conflict resolution’…you would start at the top of the wheel by telling the conflictor that you the conflictee did not want conflict. This followed by telling a teacher, sitting and talking it out and so on. The conclusion to the resolution as I saw it was going round and round and never resolving the conflict. My son told me of the situation one evening and I told him…”the best, and in my opinion, only way to really deal with a bully (especially in early elementary school) was to punch him as hard as you could in the nose”. Worked every time and in every situation when I was in elementary school. Anyway I went to pick him up one afternoon and the caretaker/teacher marched over to me, told me that he was about to punch another boy and she was lucky enough to be there to stop it…following that she shared with me that he had told her I had said it was okay. After a momentary pause I fessed up and confessed to my sinful ways. She took my arm and marched me over to the ‘wheel of conflict resolution’ and enlightened me. As my son and I got in the car I told him “the best, and in my opinion, only way to really deal with a bully was to punch him as hard as you could in the nose”. Worked every time and in every situation when I was in elementary school.
Our society has so wussified our boys that who is going to do the standing up for what is right. Many of the politicians that are going to begin to take office are going to be of the generation that got a trophy just for having a pulse. There are winners and losers…there are sheep, sheep-dogs, and wolves.
I sometimes wonder if when we deal with other nations we are going to the wheel of conflict resolution rather than just punching the bully in the nose. We used to punch in the nose.
What happened to “Walk softly but carry a big stick.” (and don’t hesitate to use it) It was taken to the mill, ground up and made into the paper for the ‘wheel of conflict resolution’ to be printed on.
“I can only be nice to one person today. Today is not your day…tomorrow doesn’t look good either.”
~unknown~
