by:  Diane Benjamin

I can’t take credit for this solution, a former basketball coach at Tri-Valley suggested it.  It was pure genius.

My son was 6’5″ in high school, a big gentle giant.  He was voted co-class clown, which I didn’t find out about until graduation, but that’s another story!

Another boy he went to school with, a much shorter guy, liked to break into my son’s gym locker and destroy whatever was in it.  He used the bar bells from the weight room to break the padlock.  Nobody at the school did anything because the kid was never caught the act.  All his classmates knew who did it, but he was not held responsible by school staff.

Buying a THIRD lock was enough for me.  Of course my son didn’t want me getting involved, that’s when I asked the coach for advice.

My son did agree to this plan:

I went to the principal’s office and told him to write a detention slip because I gave my son permission to deck the perpetrator.

Guess what?  Problem solved.  No, my son didn’t have to deck him.  Obviously the principal did finally take action.

With all the bullying talk going on now, it’s either parents who will solve it or somebody in authority.  Parents can do a much better job.  Bullies are chickens and easily conquered.  All you need is a plan.

If you have other strategies that worked, let me know!