The Editor, Re: "What's missing from the bully talk?" Column, Aug. 28 As a parent who has had both my kids bullied by a child at my children's school, I'd like to respond to this article. These are my observations based on what I've been through.
First off, it's very important to teach your children about bullying, not only verbal, but physical as well. Furthermore, I feel that you also need to teach children who are being bullied that it's okay to contact a teacher to make them aware of the bullying so it can be dealt with.
Teachers do all they can to prevent such negative behaviour, and they are really proactive in this. However, unless you've got a vice principal and principal who are willing to deal with the bullying, and the parents of the bully are willing to acknowledge the negative behaviour, nothing will be done to stop it. It wasn't until I had made arrangements to transfer my children out of this school and threatened to call the police was anything done.
Beware that it's not just the job of the parents to teach about bullying, but of the teachers and the principals working together to help stop bullying in its tracks. The anti-bullying campaign was a failure for my children. They were forced to change schools for their safety.
Patricia Betker
Richmond
