While often used jokingly or as a fantasy trope, the phrase touches on real psychological concepts: What Is Bullying | StopBullying.gov
But I am not sorry they exist.
Not in the way you think. I don’t send them cookies. I don’t high-five their parents at soccer practice. But when you came home with dirt on your new sneakers and that hollow look in your eyes—the one that says, “They got me again” —a very small, very dark part of my chest exhaled. mommy loves your bullies
Jaxon, now suspicious of Elena but addicted to the cash, agrees. They set a trap for Leo at an abandoned construction site. While often used jokingly or as a fantasy
Leo steps back. He picks up his phone and calls 911. I don’t high-five their parents at soccer practice
So yes. Mommy loves your bullies. Not for who they are—little monsters in training—but for what they force you to become.
It is revealed that Elena is paying the boys. She gives them "assignments." Not to beat Leo up—that leaves marks—but to break him down. To isolate him. To force him to fight back.