"Proud mum": Opinions divided after mum praises teen daughter for punching bully in the face
Bianca Austin, wife of former soccer star Charlie Austin has divided the internet after posting a tweet praising her daughter, Mallayla, for punching a bully in the face.
Last week, she tweeted: “After weeks of being bullied by the same girl, numerous phone calls to the school and nothing changing, today when being called names my daughter finally punched the bully in the face.
"Proud mum,” she wrote.
The tweet, which now has over 2 million views and 17,000 likes, generated varying responses from those who sympathise to those who believe that hitting back is unacceptable.
“Probably deserved!” commented one user.
Bianca replied: “I told the school how proud of her I was for standing up for herself when they rang up to tell me Mallayla would be sanctioned for retaliating violently. No child should be able to make school hell for another child day in day out”.
“We all have our breaking points and can only be pushed so far. Does she feel better now she’s stood up for herself?” commented another user.
“No, but she's hoping the girl will leave her alone now. X,” Bianca tweeted in response.
Bianca then posted a follow up tweet expressing her dissatisfaction with the school’s response.
“2 days in-school exclusion for my daughter, whilst the other child has gone to class because she was 'only' verbally abusive🙃 No wonder bullying is never stopped in schools,” she wrote.
“I get that bullying is awful and harmful but when I said that your daughter’s actions would make things worse, you can now see where I was going,” one user wrote in response.
“Bullying someone “back” by hitting is also bullying,” the user added.
Bianca went straight to the point with her response and asked them what their resolution would be.
“School couldn't stop it, it was wrecking her mental health and affecting her GCSE studies. What is the right course of action here?!
“Also she didn't "bully" back. Bullying is repeated behaviour,” she wrote, defending her daughter’s actions.
Bianca also tweeted that her daughter had no malicious intent and only did it because she wanted to “be left alone to quietly enjoy school”.
Image: Twitter