Eamonn Holmes has advised victims of bullying to “get the first punch in,” claiming he “learned through experience.”
In response to former footballer Charlie Austin’s wife Bianca applauding her daughter for striking a bully in the face, the 63-year-old broadcaster and his GB News co-star Isabel Webster debated the matter.
Speaking on Monday morning’s episode of Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel, he said: ‘I have to say that I have learned through experience and through school and growing up in a very tough Belfast, it’s better to punch … Get the punch in first.
‘You are doing your child no favour at all by saying, “Turn the other cheek” or “Just give in.”
‘This is because the bullying doesn’t go away and I will say this to anyone, it’s there in the workplace as well all the time. If someone knows you are not going to stand for it then you are less likely to get it.’
His co-star was less certain, pointing out that it may depend on the ‘situation’ at hand.
She argued: ‘I think there’s a difference if your kid is being punched. I would say, “Punch back and stand up for yourself”.
‘But I wouldn’t say if there was a situation where they had been bullying you, that you should just go up to them and lamp them in the face.
‘I wouldn’t agree with that because that can get your child expelled and that would have consequences for your outcomes in life.’
Eamonn agreed with Isabel as he sat back and listened to her comments, while Dawn Neesom and Fahima Mohammed joined the conversation later in the programme.
Journalist Dawn said: ‘I was taught as a kid to stand up for myself and sometimes that really is the only option.’
However, broadcaster and life coach Fahima insisted: ‘Violence is never the answer… There are consequences and the older you get, the consequences are much more detrimental.
‘So we need to teach them different skills and skills which are in the law of the land where they don’t actually get into trouble.’
Source My Celebrity Life.
