As a babysitter, I’ve been told tales of kindergarten Prince Charmings, magical made-up games, but most of all, playgrounds plagued with the evil of bullying.

Every time a child tells me about a bullying experience, I wisely reply that the hurtful things that other kids say do not matter because the things bullies say are wrong.”
In most cases, children respond with the same puzzled expression, as if they’ve never been told that the harsh words of others should not affect them.
Call me a pessimist, but I don’t think there is much society can do to combat verbal bullying.
Children hear their parents put each other down, they watch reality television stars throw hurtful slurs at one another, and even listen to their teachers make fun of other students. How can we say that the prevalence of verbal bullying in schools is “shocking,” when children are surrounded by examples of it all the time?
We’ve all watched schools organize anti-bullying assemblies where the entire school comes together to listen to an author, psychologist, or behavioral expert discuss the horrors of bullying, but there’s no fairy godmother keynote speaker who is going to transform every bully into a caring, compassionate individual.
There’s no magic potion to make children into better human beings.
However, I think I’ve found something close. To every struggling kid, I would recommend my secret weapon:
One of my favorite ways to brush off a bully is the “Uh, who are you?” method.
When someone says something mean to me, I go through a checklist to help me decide whether or not I should care: does this person pay my bills? No. Does this person provide me with shelter? No. Does this person buy the food that nourishes my body? No. So should I care if they’re mean to me? You get the point.
Another approach is what I like to call the, “Thanks, but you’re wrong” method. The trick is to automatically assume that anything negative a bully says is factually incorrect and absolutely preposterous.
Oh, I’m the ugliest person you’ve ever seen? That’s strange. Didn’t you know that ‘You’re Beautiful’ by James Blunt was written about me?
And of course, there’s the infamous “K.” response.
When someone says something unbelievably cruel, I simply respond with “Okay” or “Oh yeah man, thanks for letting me know.” It can turn any bullying situation into a flat out awkward one.
You may question my credibility in suggesting these methods, but I’ve been bullied just like everyone else. In middle school, I was constantly made fun of for how “white” I act.
But as I progressed though high school, I slowly realized that any kid dumb enough to make fun of me for speaking just like them was not worthy of holding any importance in my life.
Bullying will never magically disappear, so why not teach confidence instead of attempting to implement preventative measures that rarely work?
Every little boy and every little girl needs to be brought up with the confidence to brush off the witches and evil spider monkey of the schoolyard with no magic potion other then their confidence.