New Local Law Says Parents of Bullies Must Pay Fines if They Don’t Control Their Kids

[Dedweight]

I'd be fine with it as long as the school actually makes an effort to actually investigate the issue and work with the parents/bully to put a stop to it. The number of times I've been bullied in school and had reported it ended up with the faculty basically saying "if we don't see it you're lieing or shit out of luck" and nothing actually happening. In which case the school should also be fined.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Its not that simple. Even "normal' kids get bullied for a variety of reasons. Me? Glasses, early developer and attention from boys. None of that was under my control.

<---Late developer

Glasses at least as a kid didn't warrant bullying hell I didn't even like kids being mean. I got *bullied* in Middle school though. Weird times.

[Vanyali]

Well obviously you needed to be in a special school for people who like to read and like to have braces.

Wait, I don't think "like" is the right word when you have to wear a device to correct a problem with your teeth. OOPS!

i know, right? What kind of non-normal person was I that liked to LEARN in SCHOOL? Ship me away!

[Izalla]

My sister is autistic (but not so much as to not be able to look after herself) and she got bullied so hard in junior high, one kid flipped over the desk she was sitting at and injured her. Then one day my family got a call from the kid who did it (and the majority of the bullying), and he was begging for my dad to call off the kids at his house threatening to beat him up. Turns out some older kids, kids who would be graduating that year and were thus 17/18, didn't like how he was treating my sister. I don't even know how they knew my sister, but they showed up at his house and threatened to beat him up if he didn't leave her alone. He thought my dad put them up to it because of all the times my parents went to the school talking to teachers and the principal trying to protect her from him bullying the ever-loving hell out of her.

So yeah, sometimes bullying is just something every kid deals with and it sucks, but sometimes it's friggin horrible and no one should have to put up with that level of torment.

[Powerogue]

Just wait til one of the bullies uses this system to bully someones parents with fake reports. I think the idea is nice but can already see it happen otherway around.

The first thing to think about when instituting laws is "How can this be horribly abused?" I could see that. A few fake accusations, suddenly the kid's home life is a nightmare because he cost his parents several hundred dollars, and neither of them believe the child's testimony that he didn't actually do anything.

[Belize]

yes?
act like a normal kid and you won't get bullied

That's the dumbest thing I've read in a while.

Are you saying the quiet kids that just want to read a book aren't normal? Cause those get bullied.

[Anastacy]

I was bullied in school for reading too much, then braces.

Hah. I was bullied for not smoking, doing drugs, and having sex.

[Deleted]

you were a nerd obviously, nerds get bullied its just the way it is.

Starting to sound like a bully yourself.

[Belize]

you were a nerd obviously, nerds get bullied its just the way it is.

... right, I should have read the other page.

[RampageBW1]

too much effort
phone auto capitalizes usually so i rarely capitalize when i use a keyboard

Right, it's too much effort to waste 1 quarter of a second to make sure you press the shift key every so often.

Wait, maybe I am wrong. Maybe, just maybe, you are incapable of typing on your keyboard without hunt and pecking for them. In which case I won't fault you for failing to find the shift key, considering how absolutely small it is compare to the other keys on your keyboard. /s

[Vanyali]

you were a nerd obviously, nerds get bullied its just the way it is.

Pzzzt, wrong.

Wasn't into games until college, when a friend introduced me. I just liked to read books, and that was frowned upon in texas.

- - - Updated - - -

Hah. I was bullied for not smoking, doing drugs, and having sex.

Ahhhh.. yes, a bit for that too. Though not very much, in comparison to braces.

[Neyze]

"Whom should I bully today? Let's make sure I go through an entirely rational thought process and consider some well-defined standard of normalcy as my beacon of behavior instead of arbitrarily being an asshat to someone, probably with no real rhyme or reason other than to evidence my own devotion to asshattery."

-No bully, ever

This is why I'm torn. I was a pretty bad bully in my middle school years but I truly didn't recognize the actual extent of my behavior until much later. And not to mention bullying is very much an issue of peer pressure. Everyone wants to get a good laugh at the expense of the next guy, but only some are quick enough to actually make these jokes and be willing to take the fall for them.
Then there's the reality that bullying is not an issue isolated to children. If man could just treat their fellow man with respect always that would be just lovely. But its a societal issue, not an individual's. To me it honestly just seems like natural process, for better or worse.

[heef]

This is why I'm torn. I was a pretty bad bully in my middle school years but I truly didn't recognize the actual extent of my behavior until much later. And not to mention bullying is very much an issue of peer pressure. Everyone wants to get a good laugh at the expense of the next guy, but only some are quick enough to actually make these jokes and be willing to take the fall for them.
Then there's the reality that bullying is not an issue isolated to children. If man could just treat their fellow man with respect always that would be just lovely. But its a societal issue, not an individual's. To me it honestly just seems like natural process, for better or worse.

Which is precisely why it's good to give bullies, and their parents, an incentive to act differently. There's no change in this kind of behavior without repercussions and accountability.

[Anastacy]

Ahhhh.. yes, a bit for that too. Though not very much, in comparison to braces.

Braces were like...a cool thing to have, when/where I was growing up. Getting braces put on almost felt like a right of passage (so was eventually getting them taken off).

[Vanyali]

Braces were like...a cool thing to have, when/where I was growing up. Getting braces put on almost felt like a right of passage (so was I enthrall getting them taken off).

I had a spacer that went with my bracer, so it intentionally gave me a massive gap between my front teeth. zzzz.

[Aphrel]

This sounds good on papers but i can easily see how this could snowball into "someone didnt agree with SJW ideology, gets reported as a bully spouting hatespeech".
I could also easily see how this could be missused as a weapon for kids AND PARENTS to hurt other kids/parents.

[Anastacy]

I had a spacer that went with my bracer, so it intentionally gave me a massive gap between my front teeth. zzzz.

Me too. Well, that and I had 12 adult teeth that never developed.

[Underverse]

Terrible idea. Bullies usually result from low income families; punishing these families economically will only make their lives harder. More than that, kids often become bullies because their parents bully them. Fining parents if they don't 'control their kids' will only increase this behavior, as abusive/unkind parents will take to more severe strategies in order to avoid fines.

[heef]

Terrible idea. Bullies usually result from low income families; punishing these families economically will only make their lives harder. More than that, kids often become bullies because their parents bully them. Fining parents if they don't 'control their kids' will only increase this behavior, as abusive/unkind parents will take to more severe strategies in order to avoid fines.

Like what kind of strategies, exactly? When their kids are hitting them hard in the wallet, you think they'll just double down? Really?

Also, "poor kids are more often bullies" is just inaccurate. I grew up in a town with a pretty affluent section and a pretty poor section. The rich douche kids were just as horrid as the poor kids, and in many cases, they stayed so for many more years as we progressed from K-12.

[Garnier Fructis]

This would have been the financial ruin of many families a decade or two ago, mine included.

Really stupid, subjective law.

It's not that rare for bullies to turn into well behaved kids after their parents catch wind of what they're up to. Parents that bitch about this should just suck it up and learn to raise their kids better. They even give you some time to correct behavior before you get fined.