I've got three children and two of them are gay, so they've had to confront their share of bullies. I raised them all to be loving, caring, strong individuals and to find their self-love and self-worth from within and from family. None of them are afraid of conflict or bullies and are always ready to stand up for what is morally right.
I don't think we can protect our children from bullying other than teaching them how to respond and fight back when necessary. Two days ago my youngest daughter, a high school senior, sat through basically a reinactment of the Stanford Experiment in her AP Sociology class. Students were put in charge of the daily grades of other students and did f'ed up stuff like force one kid to chew gum from under a desk and force another one to put a dirty sock in their mouth to earn a good grade. She was strong enough to refuse to participate and call the teacher out for letting the students act so inappropriately, for which I was very proud. She came home livid because several of the students were in tears at the end of class.
Our kids, especially teens, will be adults soon. We do them and society in general a disservice when we think we can shield them from bullying by turning off social media and such. By all means cut off your kid's social media access if you don't think they can handle it, but I feel it's better we give them the tools to tell right from wrong and be a voice against bullying now so they are prepared when they go out into the world later.
In less than a year my youngest will be old enough to vote and serve in the armed forces, and I won't always be there to protect her. Hopefully I'm raising her to be ready.
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