Should kids be encouraged to fight back?

When I was about five or six years old, my dad said to me: 'if someone hits you, hit them back.' When I went to school, however, the teachers and administration said the exact opposite thing; imploring us to 'walk away' from fights.

Which approach do you think is the better advice to kids. For them to stand up and defend themselves against a bully, or to not take the bait?

Probably somewhere in between. Fighting back certainly has it's place. Sometimes the creep just needs a punch, but sometimes there are more clever ways to punish them that are more effective.

However, either way, what I AM against is bullies getting off scott free while we punish any kid who fights back. (Case in point, OLTL)

Depends on the situation, if a Bully is picking on a kid in school then yeah he should fight back if he can. The more weakness you show a Bully the more you get picked on.

Chris wrote:When I was about five or six years old, my dad said to me: 'if someone hits you, hit them back.' When I went to school, however, the teachers and administration said the exact opposite thing; imploring us to 'walk away' from fights.

Which approach do you think is the better advice to kids. For them to stand up and defend themselves against a bully, or to not take the bait?

Hit their asses right back. Never let someone disrespect you.

I agree, today if a child is being bullied, he has three choices, do nothing and still get the hell beat out of him, tell somebody, for which the bullies say they'll beat them up even more, or fight back, for which they'll go to jail for assault and battery. With those choices the only ones available, is it any wonder kids feel helpless and see killing the bullies and then themselves as the only way out?

But I digress, the kids NEED to be able to fight back because these damn rules are NOT stopping the bullies from beating the shit out of anyone. It's like when people say 'ban guns and there'll be no more gun crimes' but the ONLY people it stops are the LAW ABIDING CITIZENS, the criminals will still have them and still commit crimes with them. So bullies are still going to hit other kids whether it's illegal or not because nobody ever finds out about it and even when they do, they don't bother doing anything, so they need to abolish the rules of no fighting and let the other kids fight back.

Kids absolutely need to be taught to fight back. That whole stupid thing of "walk away from the fight," that's just stupid and it makes a person look like a pussy. You have to stick up for yourself and not let anyone push you around, because if you don't put people in their place, people will shit all over you.

I think that they should be taught to defend themselves, but also to recognize a real threat from someone who is all talk and just a bully.

In our society, too often the person who was just defending themselves gets in trouble right along with the bully.

I teach my kids to walk away, but if someone WONT LET them walk away then I want them to know how to defend themselves.

We always encouraged or daughter to stand up for herself but not to start anything. It never really was necessary for her to get involved in a physical confrontation with anyone but if she had...and had gotten in trouble for it, both her mother and I would have had her back as long as she was defending herself.

thepossiblepolice wrote:I think that they should be taught to defend themselves, but also to recognize a real threat from someone who is all talk and just a bully.

In our society, too often the person who was just defending themselves gets in trouble right along with the bully.

I teach my kids to walk away, but if someone WONT LET them walk away then I want them to know how to defend themselves.

There's a time to fight back and a time to walk away and it's important for kids to know what to do. Knowing how to defend yourself is important but knowing when to walk away is also important.

Definitely should teach kids to stand up for themselves. Tell them not to START a fight but don't back down if somebody is trying to pick on them.

Without question kids should be encouraged to stand up for themselves. My two girls both know that no one is to put their hands on them in any situation and should it happen, to look for a vulnerable spot and punch the shit out of them. Then later I'll do the rest.

Yes I think all kids should be encouraged to generally stand up for to a bully and defend themselves if need be. But I also feel it has to be stressed when it's time to fight and when it's time to let piddly shit go and walk away. Kids don't always get THAT message and think standing up for themselves means looking for a challenge or daring somebody to fight.