WELL, Mrs June Alexander (You Say, March 19), you have obviously never been bullied, or you would know that lashing out at the bully can make a bad situation worse.

Standing up for yourself is good and can help, especially with the backing of teachers and parents, but violence is not the answer.

Bullies will pick on the most vulnerable child, knowing that they will not retaliate.

A lot of bullying is the verbal kind and physical violence does nothing to stop it. I know this, as I was bullied badly as a nine-year-old.

Their leader was a vicious and spiteful girl, and nothing stopped her bullying. She picked on the shy new girl, as they usually do - the kind of child who is too scared and timid to stand up to her.

The only way out was to remove me from the school, which my parents thankfully did.

I understand all too well how this destroys confidence and self-esteem, and the repercussions can last for many years.

Telling someone to pull themselves together and hit back in such a patronising way does more harm than good.

ADIE TEE, Pershore.