Why don’t parents take bullying seriously?

I’ve recently had two kids physically bullied in my class and I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m being gaslighted by the parents of the kids who did the bullying. I told them that their kids were the ones physically bullying and they said “oh the kids all hit and push each other, that’s part of being a kid. They didn’t mean to hurt anybody.” <br><br>For reference I’m an elementary school teacher. The kids physically bullied were pushed into a bookshelf. Both times it was hard enough to knock the books off the shelf and resulted in bruises.<br><br>I feel like this is a real problem that I’m not allowed to stop because parents don’t want their kids to be held accountable. It’s starting to feel like my job is to protect the bully and not the victim.<br><br>I’m really frustrated and could use some advice. What do I do when a parent doesn’t care that their kid is bullying?