middle school
For me , this is the hardest age of all...my last child (of 4) is in her last year of middle school. Man oh man I forgot how mean some girls of that age can be! I am sharing this so you won't think that something is wrong with your child if and when it happens. It's so painful to see, but you know you can only do so much and that it is part of the growing process. It does not seem to happen with the boys (I have 2)...
mean girls
I have a daughter in 7th grade. It is so hard now to fit in. When she was younger, no one made fun of each other. I thought how sweet this is certainly a different generation. Nope, it's just like it was when we were growing up. We live in a very affluent community. These kids have everything. More designer things than I will ever have. We are not affluent, so it's very difficult. I don't know what child of 11 or 12 needs a coach bag? I must say, I'm lucky, my daughter is cute and not overweight. She has said kids are really mean to kids that are. She was shocked that two kids that were always nice to her made fun of a girl, to her face, saying how fat she was. My daughter was crushed because she said that the girl is really nice. She came to my daughter to tell her what they said. My daughter said to me, they were always so nice to me, I didn't realize how mean they were. I just keep telling her that when people feel insecure about themselves, they want to hurt people to feel better. It doesn't work but they try. Misery loves company. I don't know the solution, but I guess acknowledging it this the first step.
Elizabeth
www.invitetheparty.com
a few quick words!
Oh, the stories I could tell - and will someday when I have time!
For now, I'll just share some quick words of advice and encouragement that I would give to any little girls out there who for whatever reason, sometimes NO reason at all, have become the butt of other's teasing and jokes ...
Don't ever let yourself be defined by what someone else says or thinks about you. Be your own person, true to yourself. If there's something that you don't like about yourself, you can always change it - but don't change just because someone else thinks you should! Learn to love yourself as you are, because with self-nurturing comes growth and (as Elizabeth said) most "mean girls" are probably just searching for a way to manage their own insecurities. Of course, that doesn't make it right, but if you can remember that, it's easier to shrug off their behavior.
Also, as women, we can always take the opportunity to say something nice randomly to any girl. You never know how far a small compliment like, "I love your hair," can go for a girl who might be struggling with her self-esteem.