Mom Excluding 8-Year-Old 'Bully' From Birthday Party Divides Internet

The jury is out on one worried mom who revealed she is planning to exclude an 8-year-old girl from her daughter's birthday party over accusations of bullying.

In 2019, the National Center for Educational Statistics reported that 20.2 percent of U.S. students said they were bullied in school.

Of this number, 27 percent said the experience had a negative impact on how they felt about themselves while 19 percent said it had a similar effect on their relationships with friends and family.

The study also found 19 percent of those who were bullied struggled with school work as a result while 14 percent said the experience impacted their physical health.

Discovering your child is being bullied is every parent's worst nightmare and it was no different for the mom writing to Mumsnet under the handle explodingcarrots. They are due to host a 9th birthday party for the girls in her daughter's class but there's a problem.

"The issue we have is that there is one girl in the class who is very mean to other kids and disruptive," she wrote. "She joined the school a year and a half ago and I know numerous parents have been in to school to complain because their child has been bullied , hit and called names."

The mom said her own daughter has been embroiled in "numerous dramas" with the girl which left her upset. More recently still, the girl confronted her daughter who was with a friend in the playground and apparently "called them fat and told them to kill themselves."

As a result of this, the daughter has asked her mother not to invite the girl to her party. Given the situation, her husband does not want her "setting foot in the house" either.

But while the mom completely agrees with this course of action, she is torn over what she views as a "moral dilemma", writing: " I feel guilty but want to protect my daughter too." Though she looks set to exclude the girl as those are the wishes of her daughter, the situation left social media seriously divided.

Some sided firmly with the daughter and her parents. DontLikeCoffee was among them, writing: "Your daughter's feelings are way more important. She'll remember you inviting her against her wishes and potentially ruining her party."

Bert2020 was of a similar mind, commenting: "I wouldn't invite her...hit my child or tell her you aren't her friend, then you aren't getting an invitation." PoppySeed14 also agreed. "I wouldn't invite her either," they said. "I wouldn't feel sorry for not doing so. She sounds awful."

Others, however, felt the move could make things worse. "I think excluding one 8 year old girl is pretty awful," MajorCarolDanvers warned. "She's obviously got some problems but they are unlikely to improve by being singled out for exclusion from the parties."

Clymene was similarly unconvinced, replying: "I'm not sure what you expect the long term outcome of this to be but I'd expect this girl to up her harassment." mLetMeInYourWindow added: "Bullying by exclusion is still bullying."

A small number like michellescarn felt the family faced a difficult prospect whatever you do. "So the daughter should plan her party around not wanting to upset the bully, and accept that the bully is going to make her life worse if she doesn't get invited?"

Returning to the post, the mom admitted she was facing something of a Catch-22 situation but ultimately did not want to "risk" her daughter and others "being subjected to abuse at the party."

Newsweek has contacted explodingcarrots for comment.