Taking a Stand Against Bullying

A Dad in Wisconsin who used Facebook to support his son against bullies is getting a massive amount of support from around the world.

Matthew Bent’s son Shiloh ran into trouble with bullies at his middle school. When the school district and police did nothing to stop the bullying, Matthew posted a picture of himself on Facebook, standing behind Shiloh and holding a handwritten sign that reads:

I stand behind my son in the fight against bullying. Please ‘like’ and ‘share’ to send a message loud and clear that bullying needs to stop now. Tell school districts that protecting bullies by turning a blind eye is wrong. Shame on Kaukauna area schools for protecting a bully in their school.

His Facebook page blew up with hundreds of thousands of “likes.” And, he heard from people around the world, who told him all sorts of stories of their problems with – and victories over – bullying.

My brother Jeff is a bodybuilder now, but when he was little he was a nerdy little guy.  There was a kid in school who kept beating on him and nobody would listen when my Mom asked for help.  She told Jeff that violence isn’t the answer, but that he needed to learn to stand up for himself.  He couldn’t let someone walk all over him.  The next day the bully beat on my brother and my brother fought back. Mom was mortified, but proud of Jeff for finally standing up for himself.  Believe it or not, even though the school had been notified about the bully beating on him, Jeff was the one who ended up with an expulsion.  My mom went to the school to fight the decision, but school officials stood firm…until my uncle showed up at the school in his full Air Force uniform and sat down with the administration.  We’ll probably never know what was said in the meeting, but Jeff was allowed back in school the next day. Jeff was grounded for weeks for fighting the kid because my Mom wanted to teach him that hitting isn’t ok, but through all of this he learned to stand up for himself and was never bullied again and now he’s an anti-bullying activist.

What have you done to stand up for your kid(s) against bullying? Comment with your story below and we might share it on the Hawk Morning Show. Please feel free to change names to keep to protect privacy if you'd like.