We all remember: Colorado was home to the Columbine High School shootings in 1999.  But as Jessica Fender reports in the Denver Post, “More Consistent Anti-Bullying Program Urged for Colorado,” after 11 years “good intentions have devolved into an uncoordinated approach that ignores best practices in some instances and leaves state authorities with no clear […]

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‘Tis the holiday season and kids’ expectations are high.  They want what they want and they want it now!
We may want to draw new lines, cutting back because of the economy or because we’re just tired of their whining and complaining or because we think they’re on the path to become spoiled brats.  But if […]

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In their New York Times column, “From Dangerous Home to Safe House,” Amelia Duchon-Voyles, with Liz Welch, describes how Amilia helped a woman and child escape from a bullying and domestic violence situation.  They also described the mother’s progress toward standing up to her batterer and to establishing a steady life for her and her […]

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In his New York Times Op-Ed column, Charles M. Blow reported on the experience of his three children and the results of a study conducted by the Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics, which interviewed more than 43,000 high school students.  He reports that the study showed:

“Boys who went to private religious schools were most […]

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In his article in the New York Times, Erik Eckholm, points out that, “Alarmed by evidence that gay and lesbian students are common victims of schoolyard bullies, many school districts are bolstering their antiharassment rules with early lessons in tolerance.”
The article continues, “Rick DeMato, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, [who] opposes the curriculum changes in […]

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One of the favorite tactics of sneaky, stealth bullies is to set traps for you.  When you fall into their snare, they’re gleefully smug, “Gotcha!  See, I told you!”  Their hidden agenda is to prove you’re wrong, dumb and bad and they’re right, smart and good.  They’re not interested in truth or equal relationships; they’re […]

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Parents who bully children, and parents who bully and abuse each other are all too common, but an often unrecognized bullying situation is teenagers who bully their parents, especially their single parents.
Of course, teenage girls can be manipulative bullies, but for a typical example, let’s focus on a 19 year-old boy who is mentally and […]

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Teacher of the Year: The Mystery and Legacy of Edwin Barlow tells the remarkable tale of how a young boy destined for the clergy became a soldier in WWII. After killing numerous German soldiers, he is overcome by these multiple mortal sins, and feels so unworthy of God’s love, that he loses faith. And yet, […]

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An excerpt from Teacher of the Year: The Mystery & Legacy of Edwin Barlow
Edwin and rest of troop B were called before Captain Berlin. It took longer to muster than usual because Patton himself had ordered each man to wear their neck-down. The absurdity of wearing a tie in the heat of combat was not […]

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In her article in the New York Times, “The Playground Gets Even Tougher,” Pamela Paul points out that Mean Girls begin their nasty, vicious harassment, bullying and abuse on the playground and in pre-school.  They don’t wait until fifth grade or junior high school.
In my experience, mean girls put down targeted kids for whatever reasons […]

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Many types of family bullying are obvious, whether it’s physical or verbal harassment, nastiness or abuse, and targets or witnesses usually jump in to stop it.  The typical perpetrators are mothers and fathers bullying each other or the kids, sibling bullies, bullying step-parents or kids sneakily bullying a step-parent in order to drive a wedge […]

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James Jones, the Florida father who boarded a school bus to protect his 13 year-old daughter from school bullies, has been raked through the media for his over-reaction.  He’s apologized profusely that he threatened the bullies and the bus driver who hadn’t stopped the bullying.
The episode was captured by the bus surveillance camera.  No doubt […]

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Principals didn’t stop school bullies and now there are more school bullying-caused suicides.  In all of the cases I’ll describe, there were differences in the bullies’ methods of harassing and abusing their targets.  But what was the same was that the parents complained and the responsible school teachers and principals didn’t protect the children in […]

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A young alpaca is outcast from the herd when he shows signs of a rare autoimmune disorder, leaving his owners concerned for his future in Destiny’s Purpose by Shannon Cassidy-Rouleau.

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Which professions, in their teaching schools and in their on-the-job practices, foster or tolerate the worst and most flagrant forms of bullying?  I don’t know, but teaching is right up there with doctors and lawyers and others I may be overlooking.
I see two kinds of principals running two very different kinds of public schools.
The smaller […]

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I am bemused when the elites of both parties are horrified at a woman candidate who overturned their chosen candidate in the primaries.
No surprise about this, after all the Press promises to promote the propaganda, never mind the truth of the matter. From the Atlantic:
Chuck Todd said it first…
“There will be an all out effort […]

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At every presentation for teachers wanting to stop school bullying, I get asked, “Is bullying normal?”
When I look at child development, I see that we’re born demanding.  We must demand that our parents feed and change us when we want, not merely when they feel like getting around to it, not at their convenience or […]

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There’s a world of difference between being an active witness to bullying and abuse, and being merely a bystander.
A bystander has already decided to be an uninvolved spectator, to look the other way, to pretend ignorance if called upon.
A witness can make a tactical decision based on the circumstances – intervene now in some tactical […]

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If used well, blame and guilt don’t lead to self-bullying.  They’re useful ways of motivating us to do better, even though they can cause a lot of wear and tear on our bodies, minds and hearts.
If we analyze our actions objectively we might take on the blame for some of what we did or failed […]

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Over-protective, inept or unskilled mothers sabotage their daughters.
Almost all the women who’ve interviewed me on radio and TV or who’ve called in with comments have said that their mothers told them to rise above mean girls, to be nicer and kinder to bullies, to be nice because the mean girls were being bullied at home, […]

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“Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us,” says one historian early on in this informative educational video. Beginning with his birth in Massachusetts in 1706 - as the 10th boy of 17 children, who ran away at the age of 17 to start his own life - this history channel “instant expert” […]

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Let’s analyze a worst-case scenario for loving, caring parents.
You were pretty good parents but one of your children has turned out toxic – not a psychopath but someone who acts like she (or he) hates you.
It’s not your fault, but she blames you for not giving her everything she wanted or wants now, she’ll be […]

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In medicine, if you have a patient who is awaiting a cash settlement in a court case, it is well known that their recovery chances are better if you let them get the case settled before you do surgery or start an extensive rehabilitation program.
The slang term for this is the “Green poultice effect”, i.e. […]

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(London, UK) The UK Autism Foundation is backing a new Autism Consultation launched by Care Services Minister Paul Burstow and Her Majesty’s Government. The Department of Health Consultation titled - ‘Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives’ is aimed at improving are services and healthcare outcomes for adults with autism in England.
The UK Autism Foundation is fully […]

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Self-bullies wallow in perfectionism, self-doubt, self-questioning, blame, shame, guilt and negative self-talk.  Real self-bullies run themselves down and beat themselves up in almost every area of life.  But even people who don’t use self-bullying tactics normally will condemn themselves if one of their children turns out incompetent or toxic.
A hundred fifty years ago, the fad […]

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In their article in the New York Times, “There’s Only One Way to Stop a Bully,” Susan Engel and Marlene Sandstrom focus on the educational aspects of programs designed to stop school bullying.  Let’s look at the whole picture and especially at the piece that’s usually missing from ineffective school programs:

Laws: Over 40 states have […]

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There is a minor kerfuffle in the right wing blogs about Michael Bellesiles being caught publishing fiction as truth.
The right wing has it in for Bellesiles, since he once faked data on gun ownership in early America, trying to prove no one owned guns then (and ergo the second amendment was meant to refer to […]

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(London,UK) British autism campaigners have formed a new autism partnership urging the UK Government to act on autism.
The campaigners have launched a new website urging people in the United Kingdom to support the petition on autism - for further information on how UK citizens can support the ACT NOW Petition, please access the ACT […]

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ABC Family has a jam-packed summer line up and one of the newbie’s on the schedule is a show called Pretty Little Liars based on the books by Sara Shephard. This centers around four girls in a town called Rosewood who have a friend, Alison, who disappears and eventually winds up dead. The night of […]

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Stopping bullying by toxic parents and grandparents is only one side of the coin.  The other side is to stop bullying of parents by adult children who are toxic users and abusers.
I’ll focus on the adult children who:

Make poor decisions and try bully their parents to bail them out time after time.
Still yell at or […]

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