For the kids going through hard times in middle school, share how you dealt with bullies in school,

#1

I ignored them as much as possible. When it got physical i would either say nothing or tell the teacher. I was bullied badly for years but... then I found that the things that made me different and made them pick on me were things that made me unique and I embraced them more-- I think gaining confidence helped. When you're a kid, you just want to blend into the crowd, be like the popular kids and be like everyone else and I really do believe that bullying comes from a need to bring others down to make yourself feel better about some perceived injustice in your own life. If the person they are picking in gives a reaction and begins to feel bad about the things they make fun of-- well they'll keep doing it. But the moment you embrace that aspect of yourself in the face of bullying-- well instead of bringing you down, they built you up and they leave you alone... at least that's how it seemed to me.

I used to get picked on for my skin tone and hair (everyone was white). It got to the point that I tried to cut my hair off one day because I hated it so much (I have beautiful brunette perfectly-formed ringlets, like natural irish step dancing ringlets-- but in the early 2000s everyone was blonde with poker straight hair. Despite having a light complexion, I was clearly the darkest in the class so the N-word would get thrown around during recess among other slurs... I did my best to not show people how much it got to me but I wasn't fooling anyone. I did take irish step dancing though and was really good at it and would dance at pubs and compete. While all the other girls wore wigs or spend hours getting their hair curled when getting ready, I just wore my hair naturally. I became more confident and their jabs at my hair being so weird-- pulling at it and touching it stopped getting to me. They didn't get what they wanted... they stopped picking on me over it

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#2

Be confident. In most cases, bullies try to make you feel ashamed of our attributes. Just be proud of yourself. Feel no bad when they say about your clothes, body, hairs, financial problems or anything. Just know that you are unique and if you turned vulnerable they'll make you more vulnerable. Also, laugh on their jokes, maybe, like in my case, they stopped bullying me once they found that it won't affect me.
Also, if bullying gets physical, don't back down. Best way is to calmly take them somewhere others can notice because as of my experience, they won't hurt you if you are in public and if someone attacks, dodge or when inevitable turn into a freaking monster, violence is to be embraced when time comes.

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#3

I never stood up for myself because I was terrified of what would happen if I did, I was the weird kid in middle school and I was a closeted trans gay kid with autism and my autism made the bullying worse because I was called the worst slur ever, the R-word, and the bullies at my school were relentless. Needless to say high school is even worse for me, because I was fat shamed by a boy in my class and that nasty comment gave me an eating disorder.

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#4

My fists, if it were physical, and either my wit or my ability to ignore anything for the non-physical stuff.

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#5

I just quit crying. Bullies can't handle it if their victim doesn't care. Took some abuse , gave some back if it got physical. Mostly just expressed how little importance their terroristic behavior affected me. I was a nerd. I'm still a nerd. I make a good living being a nerd. My bullys probably beat their kids now. If family court allows visits. Be your best, ignore the haters.

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#6

Don't take my advice as it requires a very twisted mind and I'm very uh interesting

Give them a few chances
If theyre still being problems then release all hell upon them and ruin their life in every way possible I'm talking rumors, getting physical after many warnings if necessary, annoy them whenever possible. If they're gonna try and make my life sh**, then I'll be nice give them some chances but then it's game over

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#7

Middle school bullies were awful for me because they knew I was gay, and I knew they wanted to call me a fåggot, and I mostly hid my sexuality because I was afraid of being harassed. Homophobia is a huge problem in Canadian schools, especially in high schools.

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