When my husband was a kid he was slight of build. He went to school in Detroit in the 1940s and 1950s where they did not believe in social promotion. Consequently, he had 18 year old beer truck drivers in his 7th grad class. There were some bullies who used to try to beat him up, and he had a nose that bled easily -- highly embarrassing.
His Italian mom told him that when someone jumped him and started knocking him around to scramble to get on top and then bleed all over the attacker. She said it was an old Sicilian trick! It worked too. He tried it on one guy and sent him home covered in blood. After that they pretty much left him alone.
He had another secret weapon too. One of the 18 year old beer truck drivers -- a Polish kid -- bartered homework "protection services" for my husband who was only 12 and half his size for "help" on his math homework. Myhusband was glad to do duplicate problems in exchange for the "protection."
Luckily my husband's family moved to California during his 8th grade year and he didn't have to contend with that nonsense any more. He never forgot his bodyguard, however, and often wondered what became of him after he didn't have anyone to do his homework any more!
Mothers used to know how to raise boys, now they want to make them girls