Mom 'Rewards' Daughter With McDonald's After She Was Suspended For Giving Her Bully A Chipped Tooth & Stitches
"Am I the bad apple for rewarding her?"
DimaBerlin / Shutterstock Most parents teach their kids that violence is never the answer and certainly shouldn't be rewarded. However, one mom on Reddit did just that after her 13-year-old daughter was suspended for fighting.
The mom ‘rewarded’ her daughter after she was suspended for punching her bully in the face.
The 15-year-old boy and his friends had been bullying her daughter and her friends for months. Alongside name-calling and verbal abuse, her daughter relayed stories of physical altercations — all of which went unchecked by the school.
"It got really bad to the point one of her friends ended up in hospital with a serious concussion," the mom wrote in her Reddit post. "I have been in contact with the school, but nothing has been done to stop them."
Due to the school's inaction, things quickly escalated between the students.
gpointstudio / Shutterstock
“Last week, this specific boy, who has been very rough and violent towards my daughter in the past, shoved her into a window in school,” the mom explained. “This left my daughter with a bruise that went halfway up her body from the force he put into her. Then proceeded to push her younger friend to the floor and laughed at them and called them nasty names.”
Instead of slinking away or pleading, this woman’s daughter took matters into her own hands.
“I have never raised her to be violent, and she has never hit anyone before, but she stood up, turned to face him, and punched him [in] the face with all her force,” the mom wrote. "He has a chipped tooth and a cut that needed stitches."
Despite the school's refusal to take action regarding her daughter's bullies, they were quick to suspend the girl for fighting. Her punishment, however, did not extend outside school grounds.
“I brought her out to McDonald’s and then we got ice cream," the mom shared. "I know she shouldn’t have hit him but I think the school is being very ignorant as to why she hit him. They have turned a blind eye to him being violent to her. I’m very proud that my daughter was able to stand her ground."
DimaBerlin / Shutterstock
Though McDonald's and ice cream after being suspended isn’t what you typically hear from parents on Reddit, it’s exactly what this mom felt was right — ensuring her daughter never feels bad for standing up for herself, especially when the people who were supposed to be protecting her failed to do so.
Bullying is sadly not uncommon in schools today.
While only 10% of high school students reported physical bullying in 2023, kids today deal with a great deal of related struggles with new technology and norms. From cyber-bullying to spreading rumors to more serious situations with explicit photos — students today deal with bullying on a much larger scale than older generations.
If you believe that your child is the victim of bullying, it's important to have an open conversation with them and get authority figures involved, including teachers, school counselors, and principals.
However, as this mom's story highlighted, school staff are not always as helpful as one would hope.
Commenters urged the mom to involve the police, arguing that her daughter was right to stand up for herself and the school should’ve handled the situation earlier.
Many parents and viewers in the comments argued it’s important, essential even, to teach young kids to stand up for themselves. From setting boundaries to instilling self-confidence, parents can help protect their kids from emotional and verbal bullying — but physical is an entirely different beast.
Kids will grow into teenagers and then into adults, where verbal and emotional “bullying” never truly goes away. To some degree, they’ll always need the skills to counteract, address, and move past it. However, physical bullying should never be a burden that victims have to address themselves.
Ultimately, the school failed the woman's daughter, as it's the responsibility of the school, administration, and even the police to address bullying. While Redditors commended the mom for celebrating her daughter for standing up for herself, they also urged her to make a big deal out of the school’s inaction.
“The school did nothing to defend multiple victims of this bully,” one person wrote. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Many recommended contacting the police, local news stations, the school board, and the superintendent. Some even suggested suing the school.
"Good for your daughter for sticking up for herself and her friends," another Redditor wrote. "I’d be going after that school for their negligence!!"
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.