Reply #13: I gave the same exact advice to my son, and it worked. I also called

[Nay]

up the bully's parents and put them on notice that the next person they would be talking to would be my lawyer, who would help me with the police report, the assault charges, etc. They were (predictably) snotty and bullying on the phone, and I signed off by saying the lawyer bit after trying to reason with them.

I also gave my son permission to knock the snot out of any kid who assaulted him, but to try to avoid his face if possible. We practiced punches for a week, I taught him how to go for the solar plexus and genitals, etc. I'm his mom and had several women's self-defense classes which helped.

He beat the bully up at the bus stop and that was the end of that.

Oh, and by the way, the school was positively Darwinian in its attitude -- quite unbelievable and annoying. They also were snotty, saying that "kids fighting" on school grounds would get them both suspended, my kid ought to stand up for himself, etc., the usual. An all-around unpleasant experience which should have been nipped in the bud at school and on the school bus.