Bullying

There's an article on CNN.com today titled "How to help your child cope with a bully." Near the end of the piece there's one particular line that sparks the most debate: "Experts point out it is important for parents to keep emotions in check and to not encourage a child to hit back or retaliate." Split-infinitive aside, the question is, when you get bullied, what's the appropriate response?

First up, we have a few renegades.

CHANTAL: My daughter had an issue on school bus with 2 boys. They would call her names, she would come home crying ... So I took a baseball bat went to the 2 boys house and threaten them and their families. They never bothered Mary again.

Mike: First of all, make sure your kid isn't going to a school where students come in with knives or firearms (if he or she does, make sure they are properly armed as well). Second, enroll your child in a Martial Arts program when they are young. It helps if you spar with them sometimes so they get used to handling someone bigger and stronger.

David: Its really simple. Confirm visually for yourself and through your child who is doing the bullying. Then find that kid after school and hit him. Tell him that you will come find him every day at the same time and hit him again for the next month. It'll clear up his bullying right away.

Most of the responses aren't quite so extreme. Instead, people recount their own stories of standing up to bullies.

Scott: I was the victim of a bully in grade school. I tried all the approved techniques - teacher intervention, talking, trying to make friends, etc. What finally worked was beating him to a pulp when he jumped me from behind. I bloodied his nose, gave him a black eye, and split his lip. I got in a lot of trouble as this happened at school, but you know what? He never picked on me again. Problem solved.

Michael: I lived in bully Hell until my second year of high school when I just snapped one day and beat my tormentor to the floor with a chair. I got in a LOT of trouble on every level. But, no one ever tried to bully me again. I considered it then, and do now, a very equitable trade-off.

Jim P: Warn the bully. Then if they do no back down, drill em in the face.

Parent: You back down to a bully and it only gets worse. A bully who has hit you or hurt you in another way needs to be stopped immediately. If that means landing a punch square on the kid's nose, so be it. You fight fire with fire. Be passive and you let the little Hitler run amok.

I'm not here to advocate one side or other. But what I find interesting about these comments is this: bullying is a microcosm for the war on terror. When we bully other nations, other groups of people, what kind of reaction should we expect from them? When the people leaving these comments clearly understand the importance of retaliation, of standing up for oneself, why is it we're puzzled that the citizens of Iraq are not welcoming us as liberators?