Agreed to everything above. I can only hope my daughters are like that one day.
It is important, however, to note that fighting back isn’t always an option. When I was a sophmore in HS, I was 5ft1 inch 110 lbs. I hit puberty late and lived in a poor household that was by no means giving me the ability to put on size via tons of food. One of the guys that routinely fucked with me was also on the Varsity football team. “Winning” the fight isn’t an option in some cases.
I don’t disagree with this but, to play Devil’s Advocate, times are quite different now in the age of social media. A lot/most kids are on social media engaging with their friends/acquaintances constantly. Right, wrong or indifferent doesn’t change the fact that it’s one of the most popular communication mediums for them (I think it’s a fucking cesspool).
Having a bully pepper you with insults in the hallways/cafeteria/on the field, for short periods during the week is one thing. Being berated constantly online, in front of everyone you know, equates to the bully standing over your shoulder, shouting in your ear. Many kids have committed suicide because of this.
While it’s easy to say kids are just weak these days, I think it’s also unfair (this isn’t directed at you PP). I am constantly amazed, watching my sons go through the same things I did, how things are exacly the same as when I was a kid. Yet, they’re also radically different.
I really don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t think what was presented in the article is necessarily the solution.
I don’t buy this at all.
I bitch about millennials and all that like any quality Gen X’er would, but in reality I don’t think it’s a hard rule “kids are weaker” these days.
I think humans have always been this fragile (yet amazing resilient at the same time) we just pay a lot more attention to it than we did before.
Tyler, that’s not the point. At least, it’s not the entire point. BUT we have drastically changed the way we deal with this is the schools. Expecting the schools to eliminate this behavior, and instituting anti-bullying policies that often make things worse, is not the answer. Yes, I think some of this is making things worse.
Looking at teens on social media is different than IRL situations in your kid’s fifth grade class, or in face to face interactions with the kids they see in the lunch room. He makes some really good points about that.
If you have a kid under 14 with a cell phone or social media? Then I’d say you might want to seriously reconsider that. Seriously.
Back onto the topic of these laws. Threatening jailing the parents is a bit of a cheap and nasty band aid. Call me paranoid but if they are explicitly targetting 2 or 3 kids then something tells me there is politics with the people/families involved going on…
If there isn’t alterior motives here, I’d say if your child is causing this many issues, you need access to support to fix the problems, not having your ass thrown in jail LOL
I don’t. Not sure where you’re getting that.
Agreeing with you about the cesspool comment.
If people are letting their young kids have social media accounts, they ought to seriously reconsider that. It’s a terrible idea, IMO.
Agreed 100%. I was in the same boat.
I would add that if you send your 14 yr old (getting bullied already) kid into the world without social media and/or a cell phone, I will bet RL money they’re going to get bullied for that specific thing.
A large part of the problem I see these days is parents who have no concept of how the smallest things will be used against his/her son/daughter.
Same as above. Not that I would presume to tell anyone when they should allow their kids onto social media, but it’s a piece to take into consideration when making the choice on where that line is.
Especially if your kid is being bullied.
Thats Gold.
My kiddo adores me and the last thing in the world he wants is for me to be “mad” (dad voice).
The rest of the stuff you wrote is 100% in line with my thinking too.
Given me and my wifes role models/upbringing, we both decided before we had a kid to simply do the opposite of what we were shown. Thus far it has worked out pretty well.
Either I dodged a bullet (which is very likely with my boy) or kids right now don’t really care for social media as much as we think they do.
He couldn’t give two shits, and was okay with the strict limits on him wanting to make youtube content.
haha. Yeah, I get the sense from your tone on the boards your childhood wasn’t all that rosy. Hope I’m wrong. But I also come from a pretty fucked up place, and being better than my parents really isn’t all that hard. Giving a shit and being sober more than you’re not isn’t hard by any metric.
Wait? They don’t care about it as much as we think yet he still wanted to make youtube content? Wouldn’t his wanting of YT content be directly driven (and only driven) by a want of social media?
Complete fucking commie non-sense.
Are you saying that a child with no access to social media will be bullied for no access to social media?
(Not arguing for/against, just making sure I understood what you said correctly)
I was. But back then, shit was all about myspace.
Stop looking for a fight, and read what I said again.
I <3 you
I’m pretty sure I would horrify people with what I do with my son. I figure I’m trying to raise someone who can manage his own life and make good decisions, not follow rules because some asshat pulled a bright idea out his backside.
I accept this may backfire but so far I have a pretty cool kid.
I’m not saying that as a shot at you, but more at society. I promise I will always try my best to avoid taking shots at people that aren’t topic related.
I mean even with your son, whom you don’t believe cares that much about social media, he’s still finding his way for an outlet on social media. From the limited info I have though, it does seem like he’d be on the lower scale of social media. Now imagine scaling that out to the whole youth population where most kids aren’t like him.
That was more a shot at society for having shifted our goalposts so far regarding social media.
A lot of the posts on this thread are talking about bullying on social media right?
Well I was just expressing (while fully aware my experience might be out of the norm) that my son didn’t care at all about social media, and this was evidenced when he asked about putting video game commentary content on youtube and I said no, he’s too young to put anything like that on the internet. He wanted to make $ saying dumb shit while he did “let’s plays”. I said no. He said okay, and went back to playing Call of Duty with his buddies on Xbox.
I think he’s made one post on facebook in 6 years…