The Bully Vaccine: How to Innoculate Yourself Against Obnoxious People

by Jennifer Hancock

This book is designed to help parents vaccinate their kids against bullies and other obnoxious petty people. By preparing for them in advance you can effectively inoculate yourself against the worst of their behavior.

The goal is to not be the sort of person a bully targets. It is much easier to prevent bullying than it is to stop it once it starts.

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting

75 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2012

About the author

By sharing her pragmatic Humanist approach to living life fully and intentionally, Jennifer has transformed the lives of those who have been touched by her work. By encouraging people be the best, most ethical humans they can be, she consistently challenges people to think about and question who they are, what they are and more importantly, how they want to be.

She is one of the few individuals in America who was raised as a Humanist and she brings her delightful sense of humor, creativity, and compassion combined with a no-nonsense approach to all of her work and her coaching. She will help you focus on what really matters in your life and will teach you the practical skills you need to live your life the way you know you should be: ethically, compassionately and responsibly.

Reviews

[Laura Cushing · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful book that I wish I'd had when I was in school. Every kid should read a book like this, to understand how to deal with bullies, how to help children who are being bullied, and how to possibly help a bully to not be a bully any longer.

[Kurt Pankau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful information, especially as someone who was bullied as a child and has a child entering the school system in the next few years.

I wish it didn't do the standard how-to book thing, starting with twenty pages of "Here's one weird trick, you won't believe it when you hear it, but it works, I swear it works, are you ready to hear it, because I'm going to tell it to you, and I swear it works, though you won't believe it..." Once it gets to the actual meat of the argument, the information feels solid.

I say "feels" because the book lacks for sources. There are a few links out, but the book would benefit from a bibliography or at least a more comprehensive "for more information, read..." section. It doesn't feel like it's written with any authority. Indeed, Hancock's credentials on the subject seem to consist entirely of "I was bullied, my child was bullied, and I have a stalker."

Yeah, you read that right. Stalker. Hancock refers back to her stalker frequently, and it feels weird. She tries to tie it in to bullying, but finds that sweet spot where she does more than mention it and cite relevance but doesn't give enough context to make it fit. It's a detail that shows up frequently with just enough information to feel really weird. So, there's that.

So I like, and I get it, but I don't feel like I can really trust it.

[Eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book mostly out of curiosity, I had gotten it on my Kindle for free years ago and have been curious to see what the 'vaccine' would be. I found this book to be considerably longer than it needed to be. The concepts (for the most part) are solid and workable, however it could have been delivered with significantly less repetition and in significantly fewer words. I found the "vaccine" to be a commendable read until nearly the end. I lost a lot of respect for the book when the book started railing on religion and condemning Christians for half a chapter, and then explaining how sexual orientation difference are "normal" and to be "celebrated". This chapter was an over the top rant that really turned me off on the book in general.

[Anna Serra i Vidal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well organized advice about how to deal with bully of different times. Even though the law part are very much based on the US, most of what it says it is applicable anywhere in the world.
I would love to use this materials to help students get off bullying and embrace their own difference. Trying to think about ways to make high schoolers in my area not suffer from any kind of bullying. This is giving me some thought.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish I had it when I was a kid.