In a recent incident, a ten year old Chinese boy had his stomach pumped after bullies at his school forced him to eat lead from a pencil.
This was discovered when the poor child began vomiting a black substance. After some probing, he finally confessed the lead was force fed to him by school bullies. He had to undergo a three hour operation to have the graphite removed from his body.
According to The Daily Mail, Liu Xinze was taken to the hospital after his parents found him vomiting a black substance at their home in Daqing, northern China’s Heilongjiang province.
“There were plenty of black substances in his vomit. I wondered if he had eaten Oreo biscuits,” the boy’s sister told Heilongjiang Television Station. “We saw graphite in his vomit. It’s still hard.”
Liu was hesitant to admit to the bullying, but once he confessed, his parents reported the incident to the police.
Bullying is a big problem in many parts of the world. What are parents to do about it?
The Shawano, Wisconsin, city council just approved a new ordinance that allows the local police department to intervene in cases of bullying. The law applies to any child under the age of eighteen years old and is designed to target a number of types of harassment, from stealing lunch money to cyberbullying.
Parents of minors who are accused of these actions will receive a warning and a ninety day probationary term in which to change their child’s behavior. If they do not, the parent will receive a $366 fine for the first offence and $681 fine for each repeat offence.
The idea is that bullying both begins at home and needs to be dealt with by the parents.
A large majority of parents in town seem to in favor of such a measure, but there are a few who find it problematic.
Some critics say that the issue of bullying is too subjective. They point to the difference and distinctions between harmless banter and teasing, and more aggressive harassment. They contend that it simply is not a clear line and cannot be enforced, nor would fining parents necessarily impact children who engage in bullying.
Shawano Police chief Mark Kohl has responded to these criticisms, saying “This isn’t generated towards the kids being kids, some playground banter. This is the person that is meticulously using social media or saying things that are vulgar in an attempt to hurt.”
Roughly one in four American children are subjected to bullying at some point in school.
People have been sharing their thoughts on this new ordinance, as well as other ideas on confronting bullying, saying things like:
“I think there should be a requirement of six months of family counseling for the bully and his family to get to the root of why the child feels the need to behave like this. I think if a parent has to lose some of their free time in a regular basis they will be more likely to take the problem seriously. No one is born a bully. There has to be something going on with them too.”
“I think they should go one step further and have the child do some type of community service and FEEL the punishment too, not just in their parents’ wallet.”
Do you think bullying is a problem that society can address, or is it just a phase kids go through? Share your ideas with us here.
