Grade Expectations: Charlie Sheen Shows Us The Exact Wrong Way To Deal With Bullies At School
Grade Expectations is a weekly look at education from a parent’s perspective. We’ll talk special needs, gifted & talented, and everything in between.
If you follow Charlie Sheen, and I hope you don’t, you know that his daughters are having some serious bullying problems at school, problems that no child should have to deal with no matter how insane their parents are. According to Sheen, the school and teachers did little to help his girls in the face of this difficult drama. So how does Sheen react? Try not to be shocked, but he made the whole thing worse.
So according to Sheen’s twitter ramblings, his daughter Sam was bullied out of her LA private school, Viewpoint. Even worse, she was accused of lying when she tried to speak up. But instead of rationally speaking with the school administrators to work out a solution, instead of sitting down with his daughter and having a frank discussion with bullies and why she might be better off in a new school without that pressure, instead of doing anything constructive whatsoever, Sheen asked his fans to send dog shit to the school. Better yet, he said, smear the name of the supposed bully on the school’s doorstep with feces.
That’s… helpful.
Another shocker, this little provocation made the situation work. Apparently, other parents or supporters of Viewpoint are just as irresponsible and extreme as Sheen. They wrote a threatening letter and nailed it to a tree in the girls’ yard using a steak knife. This, of course, prompted more outrage from Sheen. At this rate, LA private schools will become battle zones any day now.
These other parents were obviously out of line. Sheen says that he has contacted the police and hopefully the two will pay for trying to threaten and terrify a young girl.
More than anything, these extreme reactions show the exact opposite way for parents to get involved in school bullying. They made the situation about them. They made it more complex and emotional instead of bringing the thing down to a more manageable level for the kids. In fact, these parents didn’t seem to be all that concerned with the kids at all, more with their own pride and anger.
It’s understandable that when parents hear their child is being bullied, they want to protect them. We all want to keep our kids safe. But the best way to do that isn’t blowing up and losing our temper. It’s working with the school. It’s talking to teachers and parents and administrators. It’s talking to our kids. These might not be the flashiest or even most immediately gratifying responses, but if you actually help solve the situation, wouldn’t that be worth it?
I realize that most of us already know not to take parenting advice from Charlie Sheen. But still, it’s worth pointing out just how dangerous it can be for parents to join in the argument, instead of trying to help their kids find a solution.
(Photo: WENN)
