buddhism in real life In the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta the Buddha said "desire is source of all suffering". So we cannot avoid suffering in life. It is a part of life.

However, he also said there was a path to the cessation of this suffering, which was following the eightfold path. The main point of this seemed to be ending that desire. Or clinging to that desire.

But does this teaching work for real life? It is true that desire leads to suffering but desire ALSO leads to pleasure. As long as we are experiencing that pleasure in the moment without expecting more, is there anything wrong with desire?

Like the Buddha, many monks live very detached lives of routine. They don't have jobs or families so essentially they dont form bonds with other people. Essentially they try to minimize desire in life and posssibly only have desire for the distant goal of nirvana. If another monk becomes sick or dies, there may be little suffering but it is accepted. If we want the human race to survive, everybody cannot live like the monks. They have to form lasting bonds which I admit is a form of clinging. At the very least don't mothers have to nurture their children at least for a while?

Here is an example of a real world situation. How would it be approached using Buddhist methods?

A child comes home from school and the mother sees he has bruises. He says a bully has beaten him up. The mother notifies the school and they notify the parents of the bully. But it turns out the bully is acting the way he does since he comes from a dysfunctional family and his parents have no wish to correct his behavior.
It's not desire that leads to pleasure, it is ("good") action that does.

Desire in and of itself is blind, it just wants, craves. Desire does not always translate into good action.

Instead, 1) There could be passive frustrating hopeless desire. 2) There could be blind desire that makes you act in self-destructing ways.

So desire for pleasure could very well lead to suffering. Either (1) suffering of frustrating hopeless desire, or (2) suffering of a bad side-effects of careless action.

What leads to pleasure is "good" action. Good action is action that not only creates short-term pleasure, but creates indirect/latent causes for more pleasure and peace and harmony in the long-run! Good action is strategic!

What's wrong with desire for pleasure? Desire for pleasure is not strategic. Desire for pleasure tends to be either short-sighted or careless in terms of side-effects. 

Now, you could ask, how can there be action without desire? Very simple! It is action informed by education, or right understanding, or shame, or honor, or fear etc. Not all action comes from desire.

Finally, you should understand that in Buddhism pleasure is seen as inherently short-term and prone to side-effects, so per Buddhism the better goal is "peace" or "harmony". Therefore in Buddhism we say that right action, the one that comes from right understanding, leads to peace and harmony.