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'Come down harder': Father's heartbreaking photo of bullied son goes viral

The embattled parent bemoaned that his son's life at school is rather heartbreaking as he called for harsher penalties to be put in place for bullies

A devastated father took to social media to share a photo of his son's hand on his second day of high school and called for an end to bullying.

The teenager's hand was covered in black strokes from his pen, reportedly 21 in total, representing how many times he had been pestered by mean kids. His father, whose name appears to be Matthew Beard, wrote alongside the image, "On his hand here, he's made a record of how many times in the last two days he has been bullied, verbally or physically." He bemoaned that his son's life at school is rather heartbreaking as he called for harsher penalties to be put in place for bullies.

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"Schools need to come down harder on bullies, their parents should be fined," said Beard, who is reportedly from the UK. "You expect your kids to be safe at school." The embattled parent said he was "sure the bullying will sort itself out" but wanted to share the picture to show other parents what their wards could be going through. "He wanted to show us how often it's happened in two days of school. You just don't know what goes on," he said.

"That’s awful Matt. I hope he is doing ok," one tweeted. "Surviving school feels like one of my biggest achievements. They don’t do enough about it and far too often suggest the victim change so they don’t get bullied. They need to punish the bullies and stamp it out!" Another wrote, "If my kids bullied anyone, first of all, I’d be heartbroken, I personally would apologize to the child and parents and I would make my child read about every school kid that has taken their life from bullying and write their names down and how old they were." Someone else fumed, "How have schools not got to grips with bullying yet?? this is not acceptable… Know how you feel - makes you worried sick for your child’s mental well-being & safety! Hope it’s addressed properly asap."

Some advised the worried father to train his son to fight back. "Why don't you teach your son to fight back, I was once bullied and it affected me because I was scared to be laughed at," one tweeted, adding, "It is better to fight back early. Teach him how to defend himself now or never."

However, another commenter dismissed that advice. "If that's not his nature, then putting him in a position where he has to do so means they've won. It's changed him, and not through his choice. Not good," they wrote.

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Teachers also expressed their frustration with bullying in the comments section. "I’m a teacher Matt and when I worked in schools you wouldn’t believe how much it happens," one commented. "More often or not your HOD or safeguarding leads know, yet they themselves are scared of the culprits. More needs to be done and now! Makes my blood boil. I really hope your son is okay," they added.