A mother has been defended online for scolding the bullies who were picking on her children, especially after a "screaming" father weighed in.
The 40-year-old mom and original poster (OP), aka user ExplanationJaded5771, took to Reddit on January 17 in search of outside verdicts on what happened while she was at a play center with her young boys and her friend's children.
'Point blank'
According to the OP's since-deleted post, her 7-year-old son approached her in tears because someone else's kids had been throwing a ball "point blank" at the back of his head.
The mom wrote that her other child, along with her friend's children, were also being "bullied" and called "several names" by these two trouble-making youths, who the OP guessed were around 12 or 13 years old.
She told one of them to leave her group of children alone, and looked for their parents—without any luck.
But she would be hearing from their father soon enough.
"The 12/13 [year old] kid that I spoke to, acknowledged my request and I went back to watching the kids," the OP wrote in her post, which drew almost 300 upvotes before she deleted it.
"Then the accomplice of the 12/13 [year-old] kid I spoke to, starts pushing my 7-[year-old] and saying, 'Do you wanna fight.' So I stepped in and said to the other kid to leave him alone.
'Threatened to hit them'
"Next minute, their father comes up to me, screaming at me that I yelled at his kids and threatened to hit them. I tried to explain what his kids had done and he told me he doesn't want to hear it and walked away."
The OP wrote in an update to her post that the father of these children wrongfully claimed that he had been watching all this drama go on. She spotted the man alone on his phone nowhere near his kids after their altercation.
In light of the dad's behavior, the OP asked if she was in the wrong for how she acted. For many Redditors, though, the opposite was the case.
One supportive user replied: "You were right to step in when your kids were being bullied."
A second of the various users who almost uniformly backed the OP commented: "You [were] just protecting your kids when no one else stepped up. If the dad didn't want someone else stepping in, maybe he should've actually been watching his kids."
A fellow supporter chimed in: "You didn't 'yell at' or 'threaten' the kids, you did the job their absentee dad failed to do: parenting."
'Male screaming at a female'
An individual reassured the OP, "That's your job as a mother. To not allow anyone to abuse or [assault] your children. Why would that make you an [a******]?"
The mom replied to the individual, "I guess I just questioned my actions after I was screamed at by the father of the other kids.
"I think at the time, I went from anger, to shock and then once it was all said over, I was a bit upset about the whole situation once I got home. I mean, a grown adult male screaming at an adult female is quite confronting in any means."
According to StopBullying.gov—which provides information from various government agencies on, among other things, how people can prevent and respond to bullying—when adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior, they, "Send the message that it is not acceptable."
Steps adults can take to stop bullying on the spot and keep kids safe, per these experts, include:
- "Intervene immediately. It is OK to get another adult to help."
- "Separate the kids involved."
- "Make sure everyone is safe."
- "Meet any immediate medical or mental health needs."
- "Stay calm. Reassure the kids involved, including bystanders."
- "Model respectful behavior when you intervene."
On a related internet note, Newsweek previously covered a different parent who was immensely backed by readers for confronting the mother of their daughter's bully.
Newsweek attempted to contact ExplanationJaded5771 via Reddit, but she has deleted her account.
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