Mom Drives Her Son to a Fight??

You know, when Vicki has problems with other kids, I struggle with what to tell her. When I was 9, my Dad taught me how to fight because I was getting my ass kicked on the bus in the afternoons. Nobody ever messed with me after that. But, now, if I teach Vicki how to fight, I can go to jail. I understand the need to teach our children to fight with words. I try to teach her to use her brain. But what if someone is bullying her and there's nobody around? Is she going to use her 'nice words' to tell the bully to F-Off? Are her 'nice words' going to give the bully a black eye, or at least the thought of stopping? No amount of nice words and patience are going to do any of these things for my daughter. I do teach her to stand up for herself, and that IF someone hits or pokes her, she is to ask them to stop, and IF they continue, she may hit them back. I told her that I would speak to the principal if it came to that. But the mother in this article (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/09/national/a134702S05.DTL&type=bondage) is totally "out of control" as quoted by the witness. Can you imagine driving your kid to beat the crap out of another kid?? What the hell was she thinking? I just don't get it. If my kids had a fight in school, they better have a damned good reason for it, not be the instigator, and my boys knew if they hit a girl: it was going to be a very dark time in our home! Don't get me wrong; I believe everyone has a right to parent their children the way they see fit, but did it occur to this mother that she might talk to the other child's mother? Talk to the principal? Talk to a shrink??? Hello???