Dad found out his daughter was bullying a girl at school, so he took her victim on a shopping trip
Learning that their child is being bullied at school is one of the most difficult moments for a parent. It is equally harder for parents who find out that the bully is, in fact, their kid. So, to ensure that his daughter doesn't engage in bullying anymore, a dad made an elaborate plan and it helped her realize her mistake. He decided to take the girl his daughter was bullying on a shopping spree and made the daughter spend the money that was set aside for her on the girl. The dad, Randy Smalls, shared the story on an episode of Steve on Watch along with the victim, Ryan Reese, and her mom.
The dad shared that Reese was being bullied at school but his daughter was not the main person involved in it. Nonetheless, the girl was laughing along as the other kids mocked the girl. "Laughing is just as bad as saying what they are saying because it kind of puts the icing on the cake," the dad pointed out. He shared that he wanted his daughter to understand that people might be going through something and bullying might make their situation worse. So he didn't want her to bully anyone "at all." Reese was being bullied about her clothes and how she looked, so Smalls decided to solve the problem while also giving his daughter a life lesson.
"My daughter loves shopping, so I had set aside money to take her shopping. But since she was bullying Ryan at school about her clothes, her hair and her parents, I thought I would take the money I was saving for her and use it on Ryan," the man recounted. The daughter's punishment was to come along and help pick out clothes for Reese. "My daughter was upset, especially because she is into fashion," Smalls told Yahoo Lifestyle. "We got her hair done and we’ll be paying for twice-a-month appointments until the end of the year." The man found out about his daughter's rude actions through the victim's mom, who happened to be his wife's friend. When Reese couldn't tolerate it anymore, she broke down and told her mom about the bullying, who was very upset.
The mom, Richauna, told the outlet that her kid was already struggling with the deaths of her dad, grandpa and aunt. The events had put her under tremendous emotional distress and were causing non-epileptic seizures. The shopping trip really uplifted her. "This is the first time I have seen a parent take such a stance on bullying." The dad told Live 5 WCSC, "Well, growing up I was bullied so I first understood how Ryan felt." He added, "I believe as a parent, we have to take responsibility for what our children do. We can teach our children and we can do whatever we can to help our children, but we gotta first take responsibility."
The act made a big emotional impact on Reese. She highlighted, "He’s the first father figure I have had ever since my father died. It’s just, it’s just really hard. Now I have someone I can look up to." The girls are now friends with each other. Smalls also decided to start a movement called "Parents against Bullying," where all stakeholders can come up with ideas to help prevent bullying.