^****, that is a hard question.
On the one hand, having been bullied myself, and having heard about others that got it even worse, I wouldn't wish it on anyone - at least not anyone who is innocent. I might wish it on people who choose to be bullies themselves though, so they can get back what they dish out.
I wouldn't want someone to get bullied and internalize the victim mentality, being meek and timid, that they are inherently weak and inferior, that low status is their natural and rightful place in life, etc. It's poison to your confidence, identity, and overall sense of well-being.
If I had a kid and they were getting bullied, I would say you have to hit back, talk back, do something back to stand up for yourself and be assertive. If you're small, you have to lift weights, learn a martial art, do something because the problem is not going to magically go away on its own - you have to make it more trouble and risk than it's worth for the bully, otherwise they'll continue to see it as a free ego boost for them, and to continue to see you as weak, prey, a victim - and they'll keep coming back to kick you whenever they feel like it. Standing up and fighting back makes it less fun and easy for them, then it becomes work, and a chance that
they could lose face instead. That might make them think twice. But waiting for the problem to go away on its own is taking a passive, powerless approach to life, and comes from a place of viewing yourself as a person who doesn't have any power, and is completely at the mercy of circumstances or other people. It's not a good thing to be. If you wait for the problem to go away on its own, by the time it does, there might not be any of your self-esteem, self-image, confidence, pride, or dignity left. I would say, don't worry about getting in trouble because people who punish you for sticking up for yourself, aren't your friends and don't care about you, they're not on your side. If they punish you for sticking up for yourself and fighting back, then they are
de facto condoning and protecting the bully, and are effectively on the bully's side against you. No matter what, you can't just do nothing. You can't sit or stand there and just take it, and establish yourself - both to others and yourself - as someone who just takes it. A little bit of detention, some teacher or parent not liking you anymore, things like that, are a small price to pay to avoid the humiliation and regret you might feel from allowing yourself to get insulted, pushed around, dominated, and not sticking up for yourself - it could do some lasting damage long after the actual incident is over.
One of the reasons I rarely if ever fought back or talked back growing up was that I worried about my image, that the teachers or even the bullies' parents wouldn't think I was nice anymore, but mean and "bad" instead. But what I didn't realize is, they never gave a **** about me. I don't know about the teachers, but the parents would always choose their kids over me even if they were in the wrong, so I shouldn't have cared about what they thought of me.
I regret not fighting back or mouthing off to people that bullied me growing up, when I should have - probably why I don't hesitate to mouth off to people that screw with me on here. But the few times I did stick up for myself, I look back and felt like I did the right thing. Remember, bullies are trying to humiliate and lower you, dominate and destroy you, for nothing more than their selfish gain, their childish, sick amusement. So because of that, I never felt bad about insulting, swearing at, or physically hurting someone who tried to bully me.
On the other hand, I wouldn't want my kid to be the bully either, because while I wouldn't want them to be a victim and internalize feelings of inferiority, I wouldn't want them to be a predator either, an elitist, a cowardly, dishonorable person, and I deeply feel like anyone who thinks it's perfectly acceptable to bully others, has something wrong with them at their core. A key part of their humanity is missing, or corrupted.
Honestly I think it would probably be easier to fix someone who is being bullied, than it is to fix a bully. With someone being bullied, you teach them that it's OK and right to stand up for yourself. But with a bully, you have to somehow get them to understand that what they're doing is bad, and to get them to want to stop being a bad person on their own. And most bullies don't want to do that, because they believe they're stronger/richer/better/etc., and that might makes right, so they don't think they're doing anything wrong.
Anyway, I can't answer. Ceno's question still stands, for the next person:
No... and I'd break up with him for having on in the first place lol
would you rather your child get bullied or be the bully?