There are a lot of things to blame parents for today. Contrary to Tennessee State Rep. Jeremy Faison, poor parenting skills on how to handle bullies are not some of those. Faison wants to lessen anti-bullying law passed last year. He stated that the real cause for kids killing themselves over bullying is not the bullies but the lack of good parenting to instill self-esteem.
Parents could do more to instill self-esteem, but that is almost all that is reasonable in Faison’s defense of bullies. He even suggests that more corporal punishment is what is needed to solve the problem. Faison suggested that there are probably a number of people in the state legislature who were bullies but turned out okay. That’s beside the point. One can take a look at prisons and point to the ones that didn’t turn out as well.
Faison’s solution to bullying is less laws and more punching them in the nose. There is no doubt there comes a time for that in self-defense. Nevertheless, schools are supposed to be places of learning, not martial arts. If kids shouldn’t be protected in places like schools, then why have laws protecting citizens from assault in society? Faison’s comments make no sense.
Fortunately, Faison realized that at least some of the things he said were wrong. He later apologized, sort of.
“After reviewing my comments on the House Floor today, I regret what was a poor choice of words. My true intent was to protect children from becoming criminals. Suicide has touched my family, and I would never want a parent or family member to feel they were responsible for such an unimaginable tragedy,” Faison said.
Faison’s right, bullies shouldn’t be pushed back so hard that they become criminals. He is correct pointing out that too many of these incidents go to the juvenile justice system instead of the principal’s office. But this stuff about parents to blame for their children’s suicides and that more corporal punishment and fights are the answer? That’s hogwash. What is supposed to happen to the kid that gets beat up by the bully when he finally stands up? Faison speech only points out that he and others don’t really understand the problem.
“There are a lot of things to blame parents for today. Contrary to Tennessee State Rep. Jeremy Faison, poor parenting skills on how to handle bullies are not some of those. Faison wants to lessen anti-bullying law passed last year. He stated that the real cause for kids killing themselves over bullying is not the bullies but the lack of good parenting to instill self-esteem.”
If Faison believes lack of good parenting to instill self-esteem is a problem then it is NOT contrary that poor parenting skills are some of the things to blame on parents. Who but parents are to blame for their lack of skills? Unless I have completely misinterpreted your viewpoint.
I really enjoy your articles but sometimes it seems your commentary is in haste as it is not well proofed. But given the amount of information you provide I suppose it can be tedious to put it all together on time. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop reading though as long as you don’t mind me reviews.
Michael,
Thanks for the comments and you’re welcome anytime to keep me honest with your comments. Perhaps I am not being as clear as I should have been. My point was the kid’s low self-esteem comes from the bullies not the poor parenting by the parents. Now if Faison had said that bullies are the result of poor parenting and low self-esteem, then I could buy into that. I think the last thing to do is blame parents for their child’s suicide when a bully has been tormenting the kid.
I will try to follow through on my proofs for some of the commentary. Thanks for pointing that out and thanks for reading. Please, don’t hesitate to raise questions in the future. If you’re uncertain about something then others are too.