Bristol to stop 'no blame' bullying policy

[Blandmum]

An interesting article in the Guardian
major change to policy

will read that with interest mb. as a former bullying victim I never felt entirely comfortable with the no blame policy.

I have doubts about it myself, as I was also badly bullied as a child.

While you have to help to bully to move on, I don't think that you can do this without making them face what they have done.

How many of us run 'no blame' parenting sucessfuly?

some bullying behaviour amounts to criminal assault. is it right that because this happens in school, no blame should be attached? some victims would be far too abashed to negotiate a solution with the bully.

Good. Children who bully should be made to recognise that what they did was wrong and cruel and have to face the consequences of their actions. I'm not suggesting demonising children but I am suggesting it is made very, very clear that bullying is completely unacceptable behaviour that causes serious harm and will not be tolerated.

I've never understood the "no blame" idea. Imagine if it was adopted for other bad behaviour. Shoplifting, for instance, or murder.

I know that many bullies have other problems (from home etc.) but I don't really think that should ever excuse their bad behaviour at school. If there's no blame attached, how are they to understand that it's wrong? Kids see that kind of thing pretty much in black and white.

A victory for common sense and the bleedin' obvious - hurray. The fact that these rules can actually be implemented in the first place is staggering

Mummyt steven, re your point about being too abashed to negociate with the bully, I have read of cases where the victim had to read an essay to a group of bullies explaining how upset they had made him. The bullies then used this information to target the child even more effectivly!

MB. Now why doesn't that surprise me