Thursday, April 17, 2008

those sandwiches might very well have been weapons

I just read this article concerning children with food allergies, and how bullies use that against them. In case you don't know, a severe allergy to peanuts may cause even slight exposure to send somebody into anaphylactic shock, which can very well be deadly.
Such exposure sent a girl to the emergency ward with breathing difficulties. She got through this time, but allergies only get worse.
Some schools have banned peanuts and peanut products for this reason. Makes me wonder if liability consideration played a role as well, but I disgress.

What bothers me ever so slightly, is the general reasoning behind this. Bullies figure out how to use something as a weapon, then the school bans that "something". Focussing on said object is a short-term measure to deal wit the acute situation, but it doesn't solve the problem! the problemis bullying, that nees to be dealth with.
And no, trying to ban rockstar games' "bully" from sale, is not dealing with bullies! Why don't you try raising your kids huh? Raise your kids to not be bullies, raise your kids to not give in to bullies.

Object focused problem "solutions" aren't solutions at all! Just like a lot of anti-allergy medication, they are symptom supressors that do not cure the underlying problem. Ignoring said problem will -like allergies- only cause it to grow more severe with time.

More on bullying can be found on Marilyns blog.

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