Your opinion: boy punching a girl, ok or nay

[Anonymous]

Situation: boy and girl are in 6th grade, girl skinny but taller, boy more built but shorter. They are playing and boy calls girl a nickname she doesn't like (nothing bad, think Niki to a Nicole or Sammy to Samantha). Girl tells boy she likes to be called by full name and boy calls girl again by short version of her name. Girl gets angry and scratches boy leaving nail marks. Boy laughs, she gets madder and proceeds to scratch his cheek hard. Boy pushes her off him and tells her not to scratch. Girl gets madder and punches him in his privates. Boy gets mad now and punches her in the nose. Girl crying, nose bleeding. Both moms are mad. My kids saw the whole thing. My oldest said she would have punched the girl also. I'm not sure.

[Anonymous]

Girl is entirely at fault. Sticks and stones. The second she put her hands on him she had it coming.

[Anonymous]

They were both wrong. You should never, ever touch someone when they don't want to be touched. Doesn't matter who started it. They both need to learn to control themselves.

[Anonymous]

The boy showed remarkable restraint in not hitting back earlier. He should have gotten adult help instead of punching (which I would say regardless of gender) but I don't really blame him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They were both wrong. You should never, ever touch someone when they don't want to be touched. Doesn't matter who started it. They both need to learn to control themselves.

The girl needs to learn to control herself!

[Anonymous]

Nobody should punch another person, ever. Two wrongs don't make a right. Both are equally at fault.

[Anonymous]

The boy needs to be taught not to tease/bully. Girl needs to learn to walk away

[Anonymous]

Honestly, the boy sounds like a little sh!t. He's probably got a lot more coming as he gets older.

Having said that, the girl needs to learn that there are plenty of jerks around and she can't hit people, especially if they haven't hit her first.

[Anonymous]

Well, if they were adults, I believe the law would be on his side because she assaulted him twice before he reacted. Kids tease all the time, no need to scratch, much less punch someone because of that. Now punching someone because the other person is scratching and punches you is different.

[Anonymous]

No, not ok. Girl should never have done what she did. Boy should not have teased. It will teach him not to mess with her. Both were wrong.

[Anonymous]

He was really egging her on. I was that girl at that age. I remember a very similar situation with a boy who was teasing me, laughing at me when I told him to stop, just really pushing my buttons. I did in fact scratch the crap out of him, too. Then he jumped on my back and we had like a wrestle mania thing happen until his mom came screaming towards us to break it up. She fully blamed me. So, knowing how the girl in OP's post felt, I think the boy was really asking for it. He SHOULD have backed off before it escalated physically. Or He should have backed off after the first scratch.

That said, my family eventually drilled it into me that I needed to walk away or ignore when other kids (always boys) teased me, because they were looking for a reaction. The girl in this situation could learn how to better deal with this kind of kid.

I think ultimately the boy is in the wrong here since he really goaded her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the boy sounds like a little sh!t. He's probably got a lot more coming as he gets older.

Having said that, the girl needs to learn that there are plenty of jerks around and she can't hit people, especially if they haven't hit her first.

I have a 12 and a 13 year old, have you ever been around a group of kids this age? There's lots of banter and teasing. From what OP wrote, it was such a small thing. The boy might even like the girl, kids this age tease each other when they do. Honestly this girl needs to control her emotions. My daughter wouldn't have even blinked in this situation or would have teased back for a more serious tease.

[Anonymous]

She should have walked away. If someone's being a jerk, walk away. She tried to hurt him physically to match her emotional hurt. It didn't work, so she tried again. He gave her a warning to keep her hands to herself. She didn't listen. She hit him in the most sensitive place on a man, and he hit her back.

I think they both got what they deserved in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Are y'all serious? So he called her Liz instead of Elizabeth so he had it coming? Say what? This is why people are crazy. The solution to that is to get physical? What?

That said, they were both wrong. You can't punch anyone and not expect to get punched back. FWIW, I teach my two boys to not hit anyone, male or female.

[Anonymous]

I would have been perfectly fine with my son punching this girl. He has tons of friends, boys and girls. The girls tease him all the time about various things, sometimes he teases back sometimes he laughs it off. It's normal behavior for this age. Scratching and punching as a reaction to mild teasing is not. To me it was self defense, obviously this girl was not going to stop. She assaulted him 3 times!