Biff Tarnen is a Bully, not my daughter

I have been told time and time again that Facebook is not the place to air your dirty laundry. I assume that this extents to Blogs, Twitter and all forms of social media but today, I am pissed and it's about time something is done about it.

The word BULLY. When I was growing up, it referred to people who were downright mean and ugly to other people. A child at school who picked on other children just because he could. That kid who took your lunch money because he was bigger than you. This was a time where even hazing was acceptable behavior.

This day in age, everyone is a bully. I feel like all a child has to do is look at another child sideways and they are labeled as such. It's just gotten out of hand.

Yesterday, I picked my child up from volleyball practice and she was in tears. This is the child who will go out of her way to help anyone she possibly can. As a matter of fact, she has been carrying another child's lunch tray and books for the last week because she broke her wrist and can't do so herself. She doesn't see it as an inconvenience to eat lunch later because she's been helping Cindy. She sees it as her responsibility because this girl is her friend and she needs help.



From what I understand, and yes I do know I am the parent and I am just getting one side of the story, my child was trying to give another player a suggestion during their games Thursday. This other child didn't like what she heard and told her she was being mean. Somewhere between that incident and Friday's practice, someone decided that was bullying behavior and now my child has been benched for today's games. My child who is too timid to stand up for herself to either the the coach or the other player. My child who is more upset about possibly hurting another player feelings than the fact that she can't play. I've told her many times that she needs to learn to be catty with other girls when necessary, but she is too worried about hurting people.



My point is, something needs to be done in the schools about teacher and administration misuse of the word. If you google the definition of bully, you find an array of results:

• Miriam Webster: a blustering browbeating person; especially :  one habitually cruel to others who are weaker 
• Dictionary.com: a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.
• Oxford Dictionary: A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker. 

This is not meant to be a rant or even a claim to Makenzie's awesomeness. I just wish someone would put their foot down about this whole bullying thing. It's not a word to be tossed around unnecessarily and excessively.

In researching the school districts definition of bullying (of which I never found one) I did stumble on something of interest to me. It appears the school district is going to use "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" as a lesson on bullying. They are going to divide students into two groups, "Germans and Jews" and....

Having stumbled upon this, I am having a difficult time completing a thought. I will leave you with a question. What is this world coming to that we are comparing school bullying to Nazi war crimes?