Bullying at Connecticut School

[mommy111]

http://www.courant.com/news/educatio...tory?track=rss

Just read this, and even though DD is faaar away from that age group, school issues have now become of interest to me. Especially something like this...I was a nerd at school and the target of quite a few jokes but also notoriously thick-skinned and didn't really care at all. Not so DD, who is a social butterfly and cares enormously about what other people think of her. Sometimes the brutality of this whole popular schoolgirl mentality completely befuddles me.

[deborah_r]

That school is in the area where I went to high school...but a world away! It was/is pretty elite.

What scares me these days is the intensity of the bullying, with all of the other outlets - text messages, Facebook, etc. They can spread the hate so much further and faster.

[egoldber]

I highly recommend these books:

Odd Girl Out
Mean Girls (the movie is based on stories in the book, but the book is not like the movie)
The Bully, The Bullied and the Bystander

Bullying starts as early as preschool and social pecking orders can be firmly established as early as third grade. Sarah was bullied in kindergarten and I didn't realize it until the year was almost over.

[pinkmomagain]

My oldest dd is in middle school right now...I can't begin to tell you the drama that happens everyday among girls. It's like a soap opera. Nothing to the extent of this article, but I can see how things can escalate.

[thomma]

Quick thanks to Beth for those books/titles. I just requested them through interlibrary loan.

Kim
ds&dd 5/03

[elektra]

I just read the novel Nineteen Minutes, and it was about bullying. The main character in the story was bullied from day 1 at school though. Kids can be cruel.

[CAM7]

Another reason why we'll seriously be considering homeschooling...

[Cam&Clay]

As a teacher for many years and now a school librarian, I am constantly appalled at how girls treat each other. The boys have their own issues but it seems to start much younger with the girls. They have the verbal ability to cut each other down in a split second. It makes me glad that I have two boys of my own.

Susan
DS1 age 10 years
DS2 age 11 months

[bubbaray]

You ladies are scaring me. DD#1 starts K next September and I already feel sick to my stomach about it. I'm also suppppper worried about DD#2 and her EpiPen when *she* goes to school. I've heard about allergy bullying and it really terrifies me.

Are there kids books that talk about this at a PS or K level???

[DrSally]

Preschool! OMG I can't imagine. DS came back from his mother's day out program telling me about how another kid put a hoola hoop around him and "pulled him". I assumed it was innocent play, but DS can be meek, so I have begun talking to him about how to say "stop that, I don't like that". He seemed confused, but said he would do that next time.