CBS Los Angeles: Tell me if my kid’s a bully. (I won’t freak out.)

Is there such a thing as bad parents? In the famous hallway between news studios at CBSLA, I said YES, there are bad parents. (My beautiful and smart colleague, Joy Benedict, said NO. You can watch us bicker about it in said hallway here on my Facebook page… she may’ve called me out as a bully for my intolerance. I still adore her.)

But for the purposes of tackling the incendiary and tragic epidemic of mean kids and bullying that’s been kicked up 20 notches since when I was a kid, I say YES — there are bad parents.

Parents who refuse to accept that their child might act like a different person at school are BAD.

Parents who recognize that their child might need emotional/behavioral help, but don’t get around to obtaining it because they’re a) overwhelmed, b) working all the time, c) too tired when they get home to pay attention to such matters or d) use any other excuse that keeps their child stuck in a tragic spot of acting out with misplaced anger and relentless disrespect and cruelty towards peers are BAD.

All of us parents are obligated to hold ourselves accountable and responsible for our kids’ actions. I’m included in this call to action, folks. If one of my wonderful daughters says or does something cruel to a peer, a parent or a teacher… I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT ASAP. I might feel embarrassed and disappointed, but I will be thankful. Thankful that my immediate village is lookin’ out for the good of my child and other kids in our circle.

In a wild smash of ambition to tackle this on my regular ‘FAB Mom’ CBSLA segment, I talked about this with supermom anchors Sandra Mitchell and Leyna Nguyen. I may’ve called all of us out. (Because I’m enraged about how frequently cruel actions from children take over our conversations.) We can do better in each of our villages. WATCH:

Since February 17, 2016, you can catch “The FAB Mom” parenting/family segments twice weekly on CBS Los Angeles news — now seen every Wednesday at 4pm (KCAL9) and Friday mornings at 6:45am (CBS2)! Like CBSLA on Facebook, Like The FAB Mom’s *NEW* Facebook Page and comment, ask, request and shout what topics YOU want us to tackle. Remember to share, share, share what you like on Twitter & Facebook using #CBSLA … just like your mama taught ya.