Bullying should never be rewarded. Sounds like a simple moral that probably everyone could get behind, right? Well, welcome to Planet Earth where even clear ethical decisions carry a certain amount of ambiguity for some people. And here’s one story that fits the bill perfectly.
A dad turned to the AITA community on Reddit for their judgment whether he was right in excluding a kid, ‘Nick’ who kept bullying his daughter from her 7th birthday celebrations. And while this situation seems fairly clear to most of us, the bully’s mom was furious that her son didn’t get an invite! Have a read through the full story below and give us your verdict, dear Pandas. Oh, and scroll down for our interview about bullying with an expert dedicated to protecting kids from it.
A dad put his foot down and refused to invite his 7-year-old daughter's bully to her birthday party
Image credits: Kampus Production (not the actual photo)
Image credits: need_toknow
The redditor dad said that the bully’s mom thought it would be the perfect time to have taught his daughter about compassion by forgiving ‘Nick’ and inviting him to the party. However, as one redditor put it in the comments, this argument is a double-edged sword: you could have just as easily told the mom that it’s a wonderful opportunity to teach her son about how our actions have consequences.
"Bullying is never acceptable"
Lauren Seager-Smith, the CEO of Kidscape, a UK-based charity that aims to keep children safe from harm and abuse, put it very simply to Bored Panda: “Bullying is never acceptable.” There is never a ‘good’ reason for anyone to get bullied, whether it’s their family situation (as in the case of the redditor dad, sharing his story), having a ‘funny’ name, wearing glasses, being overweight, or anything else.
According to Lauren from Kidscape, when somebody attacks the things that are vital to a child’s identity, it can be very tough to bear and the kid will need lots of support.
“Never underestimate the impact of bullying, understand what your child needs to feel safe and if the bullying is in school—make sure you let the school know the impact of the situation,” Lauren gave some simple but spot-on advice to parents who might not know how to act.
“You may also want to seek out opportunities to build your child's confidence and assertiveness skills so they can feel proud of who they are,” she said that there is another layer to dealing with bullying and that means encouraging our children to be emotionally resilient when dealing with injustices that should never happen in the first place.
Here are some people's thoughts after they read the dad's story. The vast majority thought that he did absolutely nothing wrong
For more wholesome birthday moments, check out today’s celebrity birthday highlights.