What would you do with a mean kid?
What would you do if you learned your kid was a bully?
In Greece, New York, parents of middle school students who taunted a 68-year-old bus monitor saw it happen on a video that went viral; it captured students hurling insults, threats of physical and sexual assault at Karen Klein. One comment she couldn't ignore referenced Klein’s son, who committed suicide a decade ago.
Middle schoolers bully bus monitor, 68, with stream of profanity, jeers
Police and the school district where the incident took place are publicly grappling with how best to discipline the students involved. Meanwhile, the CNN community has weighed in on Facebook and on CNN.com about what they would do if their own kids were the culprits in such an intense case of cruelty.
Some commenters on CNN.com felt students’ threats rose to the level of harassment and police action should be taken. Some comments are edited for clarity.
antoinette18 One kid actually said that if he would stick a KNIFE in her, it would be like cutting through butter. That is a THREAT. It went beyond teasing to actually touching her, threatening her with bodily injury through a weapon and sexual assault. They should all be charged as adults. Their parents should be responsible. They are raising animals. And the parents should be forced to take parenting classes and boot camp.
Colorista The harassment and threats should be punished legally. In addition, that big chunk of community service is warranted but I would add that there is a "supervisory clause" and that a parent must be present and participate in all of the hours with their little darlings. Since it is the end of the school year, they should be banned from riding the bus for the first month of school in the fall. Failure to attend/get to school in that time frame means more service hours for mom/dad/miscreant. I am all for a parental boot camp.
BinaryTruth, Truth can be found in logical, rational thinking. Bullies will stop when they face actual consequences for their behavior. It really is that simple.Michael Cox It's called harassment and it is a crime and the ones that said they wanted to sexually assault her could be charged with more. I would personally give them all 1,000 hours of community service and have their parents write her a letter of apology that they would have to publicly read for what their teenagers did since they haven't taught them any discipline or manners.
Kevin Huan Le I don't give a crap how old they are, I've been angry for the past two days since I've seen the video. I hope they suffer in prison and get charged as adults for such verbal tormenting to a senior. You just do not make fun of death.
On Facebook, many felt society shoulders the blame for kids behavior, but the responsibility to teach respect starts at home.
Joseph R Kramer This is a direct result from a change in our society and parenting. I am only 28, but I can remember when I was a kid and was disrespectful to anybody I paid for it when I got home. Beating these kids is not the answer...but it is next to impossible to teach kids any sort of respect with the way things are now in the schools and what they are watching on TV or finding online. I blame the parents and a majority part of society, these kids will just laugh at punishment.
Sue-z M. Tatum What is wrong with this generation? Wow, these parents need to sit these little brats down and tell them...how it was back in the day, and show some respect...UNREAL!!!
Anna Foss Moore That's ridiculous, if any of those were my kids I'd spank them. Thankfully I've raised my kids to be more respectful and also to be kind. Parents these days have got to figure it out and learn to actually discipline they're kids, otherwise you're just raising a bunch of spoiled little brats who think they're special and should instead be in jail where at least the only other ones they hurt or others just like them.
Marie N Pierre Thank God, my kids will never do that... I raised them too well. They need a better education and better parenting to help these kids! They have too much freedom. Please educate your kids! Raise them well so tomorrow they be a productive citizen... Please parents be responsible!!!
If these were your kids, what you do? Log on to Facebook and let us know.
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We started losing our collective brains when TV shows, focusing on disrespectful/smart-mouthed kids and dumb/bumbling parents and adults, became "humorous" and acceptable. Kids thought it was cool, the actors were their role models, and parents wavered between 'He's just being cute," and "She's expressing herself." It wasn't funny then, and it's not funny now. Under the age of 18, people are referred to as "children" and "adolescents" specifically because they are NOT adults. They don't have equal rights, they don't share equal responsibilities, and they are NOT EQUAL to adults. Cognitively and emotionally, they don't process information or learn things the way that adults do.
If we, as adults and parents, don't reclaim our right to be treated with respect, and accept our responsibility to teach children and adolescents to be respectful and respectable, this downward spiral will continue. Had their parents had the gumption to swat their little butts at 4, 5 & 6, making the immediate point that rudeness and disrespectful behavior are unacceptable, we wouldn't be having this discussion. As a mental health therapist for teens and adults, I am sick & tired of parents whining about how their kids verbally abuse and/or ignore them – and the run to school boards, courts, etc., to complain if anyone says anything negative about their child. Somehow, the pendulum of social norms has swung upside down; Kids have become the adults, and adults are to be seen but not heard.
Well said. I believe this country is an experiment in controlled behavior and certainly the poor quality of television has contributed to this horrific downward spiral of the American family. My children, who are adults having children themselves are in for a very rude awakening. If I were a mother of young children today, I would not allow television in the house and I would home school my children. These are sad times indeed.
Kate, that was the best response. Thanks. My kids love older people. They used to be rude to them so we taught them empathy. Now they will ask about an older one, sometimes wanting to check on them if there's bad weather, etc.. It makes me so proud. And yes, when they were younger sometimes I would give them a swat on the hiney privately to reprimand them when they were particularly rude. My kids aren't perfect, but rudeness to our elders is just unacceptable! Parents have a JOB to do, but they just "tisk tisk that just my darling kid's quirky personality, deal with it".
Bingo!
as an educated woman certainly you can see how the authorities have interferred with the parenting process. i personally have raised 5 children and gone thru the terrible teens. i also took in 3 other neighborhood children whose parents didn't have time for. and when punishment was necessary i took care of the issue. all 8 children are now responsible adults. they visit me frequently, and let me know i made a difference in their lives. however, more than once i had one or the other threaten me with calling the police on me. i would hand them the phone and say go ahead, but if even one had actually called the police i would have been the one in trouble.
Formal public apology from each of them. Victim impact statements. Community work. Anti bullying programme. Removal of all luxury items. Banned from school bus. Detention at school. All privileges removed at home. How long for I ask? Until each of them can write (not word process) a meaningful 10 page essay on the following: How a bullying victim must feel. A personal plan for how they are going to behave in the future..perhaps they can develop a peer mentoring program for bullies.....
If they can't seem to afford seat belts to keep the little morons in place,or pay for more men monitors, maybe they can use that money for more high resolution cameras on board all the busses with autonatic "U tube" posting keeping everybody in line.
Maybe this was an unusual incident you might say. Let me tell you. I am a teacher and I receive the same treatment all the time. The parents on these little miscreants do not want to hear that their child has said or done something inappropriate all they want is to make sure the rights of their little angel are protected. The administration has their hands tied because they want to keep their own jobs. It is time we start treating these little " angels " like the criminals they are to become. Charge them and their parents, maybe that will get their attention!!!!
If they were my kids they would get their butts whooped so hard they wish they would be locked up.
Yes, because beating children is the answer! Violence doesn't cure violence or violent behaviors.
You are an iiot
These kids are low grade human beings from low grade families. Simple. The solution is jail time for them and their parents. Parents of children under 18 are 100% for the actions of their kids.
I am an adult and work for a fortune 500 company and I am being bullied just for requesting a loud person to quiet down. This person disrupts the office and his comments are not office appropriate. His friends have attacked me on Facebook, bad mouth me, and pretty much make me feel uncomfortable. We need to do something soon. Where does this stop?
Do you have some sort of employee counseling available to you? I would start there and take their advice. They should be able to engage everyone involved in some constructive dialogue by whatever vehicle they deem appropriate. Good luck, hon!
Why are so many commenters suggesting that the perpetrators should be beaten? Bullies are kids (even if they're 30) who have low self-esteem and feel powerful by tearing other people down. So your solution is to make them feel even weaker by physically hurting them? Yes, that would teach them a lesson about how you should treat other people. I just don't think it's the kind of lesson that you seem to expect.
It is my experience that some people do not understand any language other than violence.
Children who bully need therapy, and their parents (and most likely, their grandparents) do too. In the best case, deep insecurity issues can be addressed. In the worst case, child abuse or outright sociopathy can be discovered. Bullying is a symptom of serious mental issues. It isn't just "kid stuff." Bullies grow up to be adult bullies, who are at best giant pains in the ass, and at worst, criminals.
We should go back the way children were taught respect for our senior citizens in this country....if i did this (I am 64) I would have not sat down for a week ,my Mother would have made me do housework for a year, no playing for a year with my friends ,no phone,but wait a minute...there is no way I would have been disrespectful ....we WERE taught RESPECT
Bullies are cowards, the only way to change their behavior is to meet their aggressive behavior with stright forward punishment.
America needs to bring back the paddle, empower teachers to teach and punish, and stop teaching to the f__ing test. If the students don't make it academically, then they should be held back or sent to vocational schools. As for the four boys that abused the bus monitor, they and their parents should be sent to a correctional facility for the summer.
We should also bring back public punishment on the stocks for tehse creatins.
By the way, karma has a way in serving justice to such people. I was bullied and taunted when i was little, today those people are dead (murdered in prson), unemployed, broke or crippled. HeHe
I know what I would do, but they won't post it in here.
I can't believe not one single person has yet to say that Mrs. Klein should have stood up and over these brats and screamed right back in their faces. They knew she wouldn't stand up to them which is exactly why they started up and continued on. I worked as a teacher's asst. and one of our duties was to ride along as bus monitor. One day there were several girls acting up and I had to call them down for it, more than once. Finally, the loudest and the largest [ie, fattest] of the girls informed me that she was going to tell her daddy, uncle, blah, blah, blah and they were going to "take care of me". I told her when the bus stopped, she was welcome to run and grab their asses and bring them back to the bus, at which time we would see who took care of who. All of her little friends were going "Owwww", "she told you", etc......smarty pants sat there and glared at me until we reached her stop and I never heard another peep out of her fat-a$$ mouth ever again........AND did not get "taken care of" by her familial posse. You fight fire with fire, plain and simple. Then, report the brats, not only to the school, but the authorities and watch them run scared. Death threats to the families of these kids............so F'ing what..........that should be the least of their concerns.
Maybe you would've been able to stand them down, but not all people are like you. Bullies are generally cowards and will pick on the most vunerable-have you ever heard of a bully picking on someone more aggressive? These little criminals were following the lead of the "brave" bully, who relied on his victim being weak and alone. Had this been a robust male, none of this would have occurred. You are right, nip it in the bud, and there will be a change in their behavior.
I think they need to do community service the choice of the victim here (Karen) for a period which will teach them respect and to me they obviously have not beYoen taught this at home or even at school. I watched this video and was appauled. I have seen children with no respect and on all accounts I have witnessed their parents do nothing to stop them being disrespectful. So when it comes to something like this Yes I too blame the parents. If it was my children they would be punished in some way.
Since the INVENTION OF THE SAFETY RAZOR (there may not be too many people around who remember what is to come next) youths have become more and more brazen, disrespectful and disobedient. The razor strap at one time hung beside the wash basin in the bathroom (when houses only had one) and the young people knew it has two functions-one was to hone a razor, the other was to be used to instruct youth in manner were they to have displayed their lack of knowledge of them and act the way the youths did. Add to this the fact that LAWYERS HAVE NOT TAKE OVER the school districes-from the classroom to busses to extra currirular activities thus–removing ALL POWER TO DICIPLINE by school officials and placed in the courts youth know they will 1-very seldom ever be caught, 2-if caught, nothing done to them, 3-enjoy their time suspended from school as this is the one way to insure they do not have to go to class (they can not be failed for missing class work as it is Politically Incorrect to fail a student, it would damaged their personal mental well-being the same as punishing them for anything wrong the did). IF IT FEEL GOOD, DO IT is the in thing which parents of these YOUNG THUGS did in their youth and see no reason for the children NOT to do the same things. We are sure that the parents have blamed someone else (the Politically Correct things to do) for the action of the children–including how they were caught via a cellphone camera. ONE should read about D&R solving many of these problems in a book edited by Ray Weaver-Comments and Solutions on Current Political and Social Problems at http://www.smashwords.com. 20% OF THE BOOK IS FREE INCLUDING THE SECTION ON D&R.
Razor STROP, please ! ! ! Thank you.
I would put the picture of these brats and their parents in the local newspaper. A month in a juvenile detention facility where the fellow inmates they harass wouldn't be hesitant to defend themselves may teach them some respect for others.
Amen to that-I teach special education students whose parents often blame the school or the district for the bad behavior of their children! People need to wake up and start taking away electronics from their kids and start calling juvenile authorities on their own kids if they cannot do the job! Let's take back our society and schools from sociopathic and twisted kids whose parents are often the same way or worse. In many other countries, so-called thirdworld ones in Asia, parents discipline their children's inappropriate behavior without question-something we can learn a lesson from.
Retroactive abortion....for their parents (breeders) too!!!!!
First, I want to stress that I am coming from a private school perspective.I cannot tell how things are in a public schools but from knowing other public school teachers in my personal life it is obvious, that they are greatly disrespected.I find this just so wrong, the way I was raised we thank our teachers for insuring us a well educated future. But ever on the rare occasion that someone says something rude about a teacher, if the teacher doesnt hear/ say something, I feel compelled to.
Again this is only my opinion, and my expereance. I dont know exactly how teachers are treated in public schools or at other schools. Teachers are a valuble resorce for us students, thank you for your love, care, and dedication to us.
I apologize on behalf of every disrespectful student, I dont know if they get annoyed because they dont understand, or just have anger issues. Thank you for your work, and please dont give up on us.
I looked up bus monitor and am surprised that this wonderful, sweet lady didn't do what I would have done. At the beginning of this tirad I would have asked to have the bus stopped and thrown these young'uns off the bus and called their parents to come and get them as they were no longer welcome on the bus. Tough? well, I read the job description and she had the authority to do this. Hind sight is always different, but it would have stopped this hullabaloo.
The bus would have been halted immediately, I would haave asked them to stand on sidewalk as I called the police asking them to come and scare the bejoozies out of the children for thier abuse and actions. Then I would have let them call thier parents to come and get them and bann them from riding the bus for awhile if possible. Let the parents have to feel getting them to school because of thier childrens actions then maybe things will be changed because of the inconvience caused by thier actions plus the pain to a grandmother who still had to work to make it in life. So sad. I know several women in same position treated badly by those who should know better....adults!!!
A nice thought but the parents probably would have filed a lawsuit. The problem with so many parents today is they want to be friends with their kids. My mom always told me I wasn't officially a parent until my child said, "I hate you" at least one time. This was the result of making the unpopular decision. I have 3 girls-16, 14 and 6. They are raised to respect people of all ages. If I found out any of them did anything like this, life as they know it would cease. Freedom would be a thing of the past. Parents need to stop always thinking their kids can do no wrong. By constantly defending the actions of their kids, they are teaching the kids that they can do anything they like to anyone at anytime. These kids will be in for a rude awakening once they go out into the real world and encounter even meaner bullies than themselves.
Having work in the education system for thirty years, these kind of behavior do not surprise me.
Education starts @ home and home failed.
Several issues here.
Educational district have the power to suspend these four brats for a year from school busing. Education is compulsory.
Busing is a privilege for the ones who deserve it. Let these parents bring them to school for a year, let them walk to school, take public transit, taxi but not a school bus.
Before next fall all four kids with their parents should enroll, at their expense, in a anti bullying program.
If they refuse, let the social services take the kids from home at the parents expenses.
Mrs Klein, by not reporting it is not helping the cause, just encouraging it to continue.
If these were my kids they would not have access to any more television, video games or smart phones for a lengthy period of time. To use up all of this new found time no one on my street would have to mow their lawn or shovel their driveway for a year. Guess who would be doing it? Starting at this bullied woman's house. The only entertainment allowed in their rooms would be school books and a bible. Period.
I like your solution. It reminds me of many years ago, when my then 12-year old son and his friend "forked" and "rolled" a neighbor's yard, and then put Vaseline on the car door handles and let the air out of his tires. After getting caught, my son graciously "volunteered" (okay, maybe I volunteered him...) to mow the victim's yard, weed their flower beds, and wash their cars, on a weekly basis for the rest of the summer – from June-Sept. Fortunately it was an unusually hot, dry summer, and I smiled each week as he trudged out the door to drag the lawn mower 3 blocks to their house, and returned home, after 2-3 hours, beet red from the heat and sweating profusely. That was the beginning and end of his interest in vandalism 🙂
Leviticus 19:32
Seriously? You're going to quote a book that is packed with violence?
your comment made my very uncomfortable. some people feel that these stories are to lead us to a better future, weather or not you agree doesnt matter. lots of people where raised to confide in these stories. My point to you is, have your opinion but be respectful about it.You crossed the line by calling a religous item which is so close to so many peoples hearts badly writen fairytailes. So next time if you dont have anything nice to say, please dont feel so compelled to share
"MEAN" Is taught either by example or denial. It all starts with the home and parents, guardians or whoever. Until we dont
treat this problem in the home as the third rail in society we will be forced to live with it. The pressure to be a good parent has to come from the community they live in and it has to come hard and often.
Abby,
I agree with you. This tragic event is bigger than this group of boys and these recommendations should be expanded to the general public as part of our educational system somehow, I don't know how we would do that. Teachers put up with unbelievable disrespect these days, even from very young children in good school districts. What child would not be enlightened by volunteering for something, anything?? I this case their parents should be required to "volunteer" along with them. .............Perhaps compassion will some day go viral too.
One thing I wouldn't do as a parent is go on CNN and cry crocodile tears and say my son was traumatized by the world reaction to his bullying. I hope these cretins carry their self inflicted scars the rest of their lives.
These kids should take an anger management course and then do community service work with senior citizens.
Hi
I agree with you on the 68 yr old lady. I do not have facebook or twitter to inform cnn what should be done. But this is what i would do First i would inform all four thjat the punishment that they would recieve would be fair in my option
As follows: There summer vacation will be taken away and replace with 5 hours per day on do community work all summer long. During the weekend they will be seving 3 hour in a nursing home which there parents must drive them to if it is too far away after then do the community work and the visit to the nursing home, and summer is over they should have a bus monitor to be a man. If they the parents and the school board does not like that idea then let me have all four for one month and i promise everyone around the world that only would understand what they did was very wrong but they would become men. Thank you for taking the time keep up the good work! God blees America.
Lance Corporall Marine Corps U.S.A Carlos
Right on...my life, and I am a 68 year old widow in same position as this lady, I should have been the monitor and the rigid rules they need to follow you set out are on spot. The parents need to feel it too....God Bless you for the job you do, and I believe every word you say,,,in a month they would be changed young men. Were there any females involved in this bullying, I never heard there was. Does this speak something in itself about society. If I had been a female on the bus, this would never have continued,. I would have faught those kids tooth and nail to stop it.
My Wife had cancer for 8 years and then passed. I found out last year that through out that time girls at my daughter's school – a Private Catholic School – teased her every day and told her her mother was going to die.
The parents and teachers had to know this was going on....
There is no way to make up for this...
Paul C wrote: "My Wife had cancer for 8 years and then passed. I found out last year that through out that time girls at my daughter's school – a Private Catholic School – teased her every day and told her her mother was going to die.
The parents and teachers had to know this was going on...."
I am a teacher, and I can tell you that, unless another student informs us, we generally don't know what's going on. Teenagers speak to each other in reprehensible ways, but it is almost always away from adult ears or during passing periods when it is impossible to distinguish individual conversations. And, because of the BS "no snitching" social contact that most of them follow these days, we rarely hear about this sort of thing occurring. Only when we witness a student acting out of sorts, confront them about it, and the student has a willingness to share what is going on do we learn of this behavior.
The reason kids don't snitch is because parents teach kids from a young age that 'tattling' is bad. Your tattling is what police conducting an investigation call providing valuable information.
I admire Karen Klein for keeping her cool. Those who feel she should have done something to stop this, should know it is not that easy when unskillful kids get carried away. I feel that somehow the perpetrators should be made acutely aware of the damage this has done...not least of all their own reputations. But what would nbe approriate? Perhaps during that long period f being banned from sports they could be doing some anti-bullying community service and certainly attending some appropriate courses/counselling.
The kids are rotten, but why is the bus monitor looking out the window and trying to ignore them instead of chewing them out and taking down their names at the first sign of disrespect? Isn't this the kind of behavior that the bus monitor is there to prevent? If someone tried pulling that on the bus when I was a kid, they'd have heard the bus monitor calling the school on the CB and requesting a teacher to be waiting for the bus, and to bring their paddle.
She was looking away because she was trying not to cry. An old but sadly not always successful trick is staring away from whatever is disturbing you and trying not to blink, hoping that a tear won't escape and roll down your cheek, and the tears already brimming in your eyes will somehow evaporate. If she allowed herself to speak, she would have lost her composure and be subject to more bullying. She shouldn't be faulted for not trying to take on these bullies – – that would only have made the situation worse. She knew the horror was limited in that they would eventually have to get off the bus.
God bless you, Ms. Klein, and may God use this as an opportunity to open the hard, cruel hearts of her tormentors and to teach their parents how to truly parent.
One of the parents should be required to accompany the child to school everyday, all day. How embarrassing would that be to a 12 yr. old wannabe thug ? The middle school kids often treat their teachers (especially subs) with the same disrespect. The accompanying parent would bring some order to the classrooms as well.
Punish them by pulling a jerry sandusky on them – sodomize them in public
You're sick, Gavin. Take your trash talk to some other site.
Gavin, tragically your response is sick and respresents the worse of our country/world. Instead of suspending them from school and complicate their issues....have them go to school and their free time should be involved in working in the community. Get to know about the isolated people in nursing by providing services, go to soup kitchen and work, and any other community service needed and certainly no access to public transit or school buses for a period of time. I am of the mind that this bullying starts at home, how are the children respected and how do they view the behavior of parents. Do they live in an environment of judging and disregard for others. What are the parents saying about their behavior?
my god, was this how you were raised?
Corporal punishment – worked in my day. Time to bring it back!
If this were my children i would drop them of to a country that has nothing to offere them. Scare the leaving crap out of them so they will never do this again. "To the parents of these children do somthing about them because if you dont i promise you that someone else will. what hapend to respect these days especially to those who are old enough to be theire granprants shame on you.
The punishment dealt to these young adults should be severe.
1.They should never be allowed on a school bus again.
2.They should be expelled from school.
3.Send them to Singapore for a whipping. 10 lashes should do!
BRAVO, BRAVO,BRAVO
The main kid needs to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. I suspect this behavior is not out of character for the kid and he's openly fantasizing about cutting her – and there is just no emotion in his voice. Should he be found "sound of mind," he needs to be expelled from the school as well as the bus. If he were under my care, I'd have him put into a program where he can be watched, counseled, physically restrained if necessary and forced to work and study – and do nothing BUT work and study until he comes of age. Recreation can take the form of supervised hikes. Hopefully he won't grow into serial killer.
His parents should
I am also in my 60's. I worked as a registered nurse until I was rear-ended and had my neck fractured and spinal cord injured.I am now physically vulnerable.I had my last child at 45,and he is 17. I do understand current teens. I can't phathom him doing something like this. If the parents are not dragged into accountability,these 13 year old bullies will be tomorrow adult bullies.They need to learn the lesson of humility. She probably did the best thing at the time.,and that was to remain as quiet as possible during this critical time.Nobody works at 68 at a menial job,unless finances dictate.Karen,you are a true hero. In the future, please provide a back of bus monitor with a walkie talkie connection to the driver. It is pointless to have a monitor without it. Or a provided cellphone to call police to meet the bus.
I dont think I can post here what I would do with them
Abby's come the closest to expressing what is needed–and that is the path of the kids/bullies and their parents taking responsibility for the choices that were made and the actions that were taken. This is a teachable moment. Choices have consequences, and character matters. The families of these bullies, as well as the bullies themselves, need to apologize to the bus monitor. and they need to atone. Not through more bullying, but through the adult path of "make it right." You have done this woman a serious wrong, and you need to make it right. 'nuff said.
Science and experience is CLEAR!...Mean children grow up to be mean adults! Only the most intensive intervention can change their course. These kids will grow up to be the kind that will burn dogs alive, shoot cats and assault young girls. It is the way that leads to Psychopaths! Ask any psychologist.
I think a prison tour of a maximum security prison would do the trick, especially if they got to spend a single day (24hrs) in a solitary confinement cell in a 'maximum security prison' would do the trick, advising that this will hurt us more than it will hurt you speech. I was bullied all through Jr. high (for a discretion a parent took that was made public) and found the only things bullies understand is bigger bullies. (eg. The prison tour mentioned and what happens to bullies that can't change their ways or should I say understand why their ways need to change from the human being perspective of ""unconditional love for all that is ........ the good the bad and the ugly"")
MY UPDATE: I recently posted about the kid that videoed this tape that these bullies/CRIMINALS did to the bus monitor Karen! Istated that he shoud be commended for taping it..OMG i just watched this video (very disturbing) in its entirity. THIS KID WAS ALSO BULLYING HER AS WELL! I AM SO APPALLED.LISTENING TO THE TAPE WAS ALSMOST UNBEARABLE FOR ME TO WATCH AND HEAR. THESE KIDS ARENT SORRY IN THE LEAST,THEY SHOULD BE CHARGED AS CRIMINALS,THE REASON I SAY THAT IS BECAUSE OF THEM PUBLICLY THREATENING HER..AND WHAT ELSE I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IS WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THE BUS DRIVER DOING TO SQUASH THIS EVIL BRATS HARRASSING ? FIRE THE BUS DRIVER AS WELL!
I would send them to boot camp. I would also hold their parents responsible. I would want them the kids and parents in front of a judge at the same time. The parents should be accountable for these kids and these kids need to hear a judge tell their parents they are accountable. It was so cruel. Someone on that bus should have stepped in for her. Well guess what, she is going to Disney Land and they are not.
They should be thrown off the bus for a year . . . walk or get the parent out of bed and drive their spoiled kid to school.
Perhaps these children need to be taught the lessons many of us were taught early on. If your bully , a bigger bully will whoop that ass.
Amen
Yeah...maybe that's what's lacking these days..some serious ass-whipping!
I'll tell you what I'd do with them AND their parents. Expell them from every school system and order them placed in one of those "boot camp" schools and order the parents to pay the huge tuition every year till those little jerks grow up, hopefully decent adults, but I don't hold out a lot of hope. It won't change for any reason other than if those kids are scared. They won't stop this behavior on their own and their parents need to pay in some manner for the brats they raised. SHAME!!!
It's been said: No bad kids, just bad parents...
I have been thinking hard about this story since I first read about it on the news and then tried to watch the video (I truly couldn't bear to watch the entire video). My first reaction was utter shame and feeling sick to my stomach about what I was seeing and hearing on the video. Then I started feeling really angry. Then I started feeling really sad. The more I thought about the video, the more outraged I felt.
I've been thinking about what I would do if it were my child bullying the bus monitor. Of course, I would be devastated. At first I thought I would send them to military boot camp, and that I wouldn't even want to see them or talk to them for a very very long time. But, actually, now that I've thought it through, what I think I would do is march them over to Mrs. Klein's house and make them apologize. I would also apologize to her for their deeply offensive behavior. I would tell her that I would greatly appreciate if she would allow my child to do any chores around her home for the entire summer. Anything at all. Which they would do all summer long. Also, I would require them to volunteer at a senior citizen's facility throughout the remainder of their school years. I would also make them attend some type of weight loss program that has a group therapy-type format so they would have to understand the difficulty and stigma people experience with over-weight issues and learn some empathy. I would also require them to volunteer in a low income program so they would have to understand poverty and learn some more empathy. They would also lose their freedoms for the following school year: no computer, no phone, no social events, no friends over, grounded (except for the mandated activities). A big part of their summer would be spent reading about, reflecting on, and writing about: character, life-goals, compassion, humility, respect, and leadership. I also think I would have our entire family do some type of family therapy or group therapy, because I think it would be traumatic for everyone in the family to have to deal with something like this. That, in a nutshell, is what I would do if my child was the bully.
I am really hoping that the outcome of this awful incident is that we see leadership from the school, the parents, and the rest of the community that adresses bullying in a meaningful way. This is the time to be leaders and adults. The children (and adults) in that town (and every where) need to learn how to stand up to bullies and learn to be courageous leaders. I wish Mrs. Klein all the best and I truly hope she enjoys her vacation.
Abby,
I basically agree with your take.. Punishment should be extensive, but aimed at righting the wrong and character development. However, i would be reluctant to put m y child in a volunteer situayion with vunerable people, at i was cinvinced that the bulling was behind them.
well said, I concur
Great post. I happen to fall on the side of spiritual growth, so I'd probably inject some/extra spiritual growth aspects, but still a great post.
The bullies are in the big world of bullies now and they're on the receiving end of valid threats rather than silly little threats from guarded 13 year old lives in rural New York. Picking on a defenseless person, especially someone's grandmother is not a smart move. I think these little pansies are getting what they deserve...I'll be they won't walk around without watching their backs for a long time. I can tell you that if this were my grandmother and I lived around the corner from them their lives wouldn't be the same and it's likely they'd need to move to find peace.
I would go beat there parents why i make the kid watch. But that won't do no good the kids are brats, and they wouldn't care i say we still should be able to whip them but not beat them .
But thanks to our goverment we cant.
Cat O'Nine Tails would be a good start.
Show me good parenting and I'll show you a respectful child. I am so disgusted with the way the brats in this world are revered and raised by the PARENTS. Show me an obnoxious, self centered brat, and I'll bet that they are carbon copies of their obnoxious parents. My answer would be to remand these children and their role models (i.e. parents) to volunteer at a shelter for the indigent and homeless to cook and serve them meals at lease twice a week for six months.
Maggie K.
Club the defendents like a baby seal. Not even Green Peace would stand for such behaviour.
I truly believe that respecting your elders begins at home. Is this the way these bullies behave in their own family. Mrs. Klein deserves a medal for working as a bus monitor. I certainly wouldn't want a job working with a bunch of teenagers. I truly hope that the school does suspend them for a year and if not I also hope that the parents should be responsible for getting their kids to school. They should not be allowed to ride the bus again. If their parents really wanted to punish them, they should take away all their gadgets (cell phones, computers, etc.) for quite some time and they should have to volunteer at senior's residences in their area for the whold summer. They shouldn't even be allowed out of their homes unless it was to do volunteer work. Now these families are all worried because they are receiving threats. I guess their little monsters should have thought of the consequences before acting the way they did. In this day and age there are many unstable people out there in this world who would take it upon themselves to punish these little monsters. Look at the shame they have brought their families. I really hope that Mrs. Klein uses the money that was collected for her and retires.
they should put them in jail for what they did for life ( you think there parents care no they are bullie too )
As a single father of 3, I felt extremely angry by these kids actions. The "time-out" approach does not work, these parents need to read these kids from the good book until they can't stand. Then when the parents have got these kids complete attention take away the cell phones, game consoles, TV, bikes, etc. Sell them and make the kids hand carry the money to this lady. Just when the kids think it's over, inform them that for the next two years they will be scooping, raking, moving, and weeding this lady lawn for free. And no, I was not referring to the bible, its an old phrase that some of you might remember.
yoU GO rANDY ! bOO-yAH !! THat's how you handle these criminal brats.
Part of the problem is ourselves. We baby and promote this type of behavior in children. We tell our children they are perfect we believe them to a fault and we refuse to hold them accountable or punish them accordingly.
If a spoke to my Dad or another adult that way as a child my Dad would have whipped me so bad I would have cried for a week and I promise I would have learned a lesson.
Another example, my brother is a liberal, he refuses to punish his 9 yr son, my nephew, when he acts out. One day my nephew was kicking my Father who was 67 yrs old. After my Father asked him to stopped and grimaced in pain, to which my nephew let out a howling giggle finding it fun hurting my Father. I decided to kick my nephew as he was kicking my Father, needless to say he was not happy and started rubbing his leg saying I hurt him, and he began to cry. I asked him did it feel good? his answer, "no it hurt", my response, well stop kicking people and maybe you won't get kicked back. To this day my nephew never acts out in front of me, and he is actually a good kid when I'm around, he even thanked me for teaching him a lesson.
This is truly saddening and disgusting video, which unfortunately is an illustration of the state of, as the article says, children, society, and probably parenting. Unfortunately also, or maybe fortunately, a window into a nation struggling to deal with the issue of bullying in childhood while celebrating it at virtually every other level of the nation including foreign policy. Fortunately it also appears a very powerfull illustration of the current and potential power of modern media such as cellphone camera's and social media. Hopefully the "children" involved in the incident (and all the other "children" who regularly these days not only often participate in bullying but who then gleefullyy film it with the expensive phones that their parents have given them) will also get a glimpse into not only their disgusting, incredibly disrespectful and hurtful behavior but also into the collective societal anger at it. The only downside is that it appears that the "children" involved will not get a glimpse into the workings of the justice system and what really should be the potential consequences of their abhorent behavior.
As someone who was severely bullied in high school to the point of attempting suicide twice, following a brain injury, I have a personal affinity for this story.
Many comments here decry what they see as an epidemic of kids behaving in this manner. Certainly, media distractions and absentee parenting have grown exponentially since that semester starting January 1985, after having spent a month in a coma and half-a-year in the hospital. But while the pure number of bullies may have grown, the severity of the bullying remains the same. And it all comes down to one factor: young people who have never learned the value of respect.
Why this is so is not really the issue. There are any number of whys and we cannot change what happened in the past.
What we CAN do, however, is ensure that not only are the young perpetrators taken to task but parents be held responsible for the actions of their children. Sure, there's the argument that parents cannot always monitor their kids. But it has never been about watching over your children 24/7. That's just dumb. What it IS about is bringing up your kids with a sense of values that make them productive human beings: respect, love, joy, compassion and courage.
I used to be a very angry man. I used to be bitter, frustrated, self-righteous and commit road rage. A year ago I had a massive breakthrough where I learned that my behaviour was a direct result of the impact of that bullying I had received 27 years ago in high school.
Today, that angry, bitter, frustrated, self-righteous road rager is now a leader, a contributor, an author, and an improvisor with training from Second City; a martial artist in Jeet Kune Do, which was developed by Bruce Lee and a motivational speaker who transforms and empowers entire high school assemblies around the issue of bullying. And the kids I speak to further contribute to me: they're my reassurance that they are just as disgusted by the behaviour of their peers as you and I are.
Take heart, everyone. There's hope for the future yet.