Is that a bully on your bus?

My older son, who's in the third grade, recently told me that one of his classmates threw him down on the grass during recess.

I said, "One of the bigger kids, right?"

He said, "No, actually he's smaller than me." He leveled his hand to his own chin. "About this tall."

"And he threw you down?" I replied.

Well, you get the drift. I don't know if I'd classify his classmate as a bully, more likely he's just a rambunctious friend, but it concerns me when kids are tossing each other around on the playground.

How do you tell the difference between playful fun and bullying? I suspect school bus drivers are called upon to make that determination quite often. Sometimes, it's obvious when it's bullying . . . the insults are mean spirited and the physical contact is meant to do harm. But other times it's probably not as obvious.

So how does a bus driver tell if bullying is occurring (or if it's going to occur)?

With the incidence of bullying apparently on the rise, I think it's important for school bus operations to prepare drivers to identify behaviors that are associated with bullying and how to respond. I've seen news reports that some youngsters are using their cell phones to record these incidents and then post them on the Internet. In some cases, brutal attacks are staged just for that purpose.

If you've got any advice on how to curtail bullying on the school bus, I think we'd all be interested to hear about it. The psychological damage that bullying victims suffer is profound and can be long lasting. If we can take some action to deter these attacks on the school bus, maybe we'll prevent further attacks in other arenas.

Let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Steve