I think it is pretty much the norm that most kids get bullied to some extent. You can usually tell the ones that have had a sheltered life.

>Being humiliated and beaten as a child with no control over the situation is not "training" for anything. It's abundantly clear that you did not experience that and have no idea what it is like for a child. Let's hope as a crotchety old man that nobody ever decides to show you what it's like when you're stuck in a nursing home where no one believes or cares to help you because of some stupid reason like that it should toughen you up.

Perhaps you should not make such unfounded assumptions. It would also behoove you to refrain from such overt ad hominem argument.

Do you think I was never a child? I speak from experience, not conjecture. I can't say the same for your vitriolic response.

As a child, I went through many situations that were very stressful for me at the time, but ultimately helped to construct a number of helpful psychological responses to aggression. Those responses are very useful in the real world. Contrary to what teachers may have you believe, bullying does not end in school. It simply becomes more subtle.

>Being humiliated and beaten as a child with no control over the situation is not "training" for anything. It's abundantly clear that you did not experience that and have no idea what it is like for a child.

I disagree. Most kids have experienced that, and in older times quite more than today with over-protection.

Unless we're talking of extreme situations (which we were not), it helps to build defenses against these kind of things and be more vigilant and aware of other's tactics.

Some kind of "toughening" kids up with adverse situation (as opposed to over-protecting them) has been part of human culture for milenia, from Sparta to Native American tribes.