I was always very, very small for my age. Luckily, I was “the smart kid”, and that helped a lot....but I’ll tell you that I was never bullied more than once by the same person in my whole life.
Reason: I learned what I wrote above at a very early age. It has served me well. It’s gospel.
I don’t mean the BULLY calls your bluff. I mean you get tattled on and then that headache starts, and you can’t play the macho game with those people and get the same results.