Secondly, I’m with you. My 9 yo has been on the receiving end, and older boys who teased him, along with an older sister (13 yo), who will start losing priviledges soon if she doesn’t lighten up on him (typical little brother annoyance) because sometimes I catch him overpowering his little brother and slightly younger sister (she’s 8). I ask him, when I catch him, if he sees himself as a mean child, and he says no. So I ask him why he wants to act that way. I think he is picking up some habits from other children at school, along with his older sister who gets talked to all the time about it, or something else we’re not picking up on. I have yet to get to the bottom of this, but he is most certainly not a bully, but when I see him messing with our 4 yo, or his sister, but sometimes I have to wonder if he might not turn out to be. I hope I can figure it out soon :-S

Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parentings last blog post..To Do Tuesday – Week 8

I’m extra sensitive to it all and I blow it from time to time. I remember once I was thumbing through a book of cat pictures with my daughter. One picture was of a hairless cat. Every time we got to the page with that cat’s picture we’d wrinkle up our noses together and say all sorts of ewwwwwws and icks. It was fun for us to do that together. We’d laugh and laugh. She was just over 2 at the time. Of course, that reaction came from me and I was teaching her to respond in kind. I was teaching her to judge that cat by the fact it looked different. It took me well over a dozen times of reading that book to her to realize what I was doing. I was horrified to hear her saying things about the cat (things I had taught her to say, in essence) that weren’t far off from hurtful things some people had said about/to her. Definitely a wake up call for me. Now I am better about how I react to all differences in life, human and non-human. We use the word unique a lot now and talk about how cool it is to be just that.

Lisa Ps last blog post..For God Being All Knowing

I second what was said above about example and discussion being the best approaches.

Cheri @ Blog This Mom!s last blog post..We Don’t Always Get What We Want

I know I can always count on you to give me something to think about. Friendship is something that has been on my mind alot lately. Making, maintaining, letting go, etc. I agree that bullies will always be there. We have to carefully teach our children to respect the differences. I think it is worse today because of the media. All you have to do to find a bully these days is turn on the tv or the radio. Look at how they tear down celebrities, businessmen, politicians. It’s become acceptable, sought after even. People are paid big bucks to be bullies. How do you teach your kid it’s not cool when some would define cool by this very practice?

I’m glad my girls are grown and not 4 again. It’s getting tougher.

Smart Mouth Broads last blog post..SPRING HAS SPRUNG

On the flip side, when they are the one being bullied, we talk about how it feels and to remember that feeling so that they don’t make someone else feel that way. And then we talk about the best way to handle it when someone is being mean to them.

We practice a lot at our house…meaning, we talk through or act out how I expect them to behave. We also talk about differences a lot because my little man is biracial and he does get treated differently by some people that are racist. Since he is still pretty young he doesn’t understand why he’s being treated differently yet but some day he will get it.

Since I used to do daycare for ESL classes they have been exposed to people from various countries and languages, they have grown up with people looking and talking different, being normal. The biggest teacher is leading by our example and addressing each situation as they arise.

Can I just say how much I enjoy your post and how they make everyone think. Love reading everyones comments too. We can learn so much from one another!

Loris last blog post..Idiosyncrasy’s?

WOW

MamaGeeks last blog post..Matters Of The Heart.

How he learned to deal with it is extremely interesting: he adopted a very “tough” exterior. If you don’t know him, you certainly won’t mess with him – he’s a big, rather mean looking guy, which I find funny because he’s a very gentle, kind person.

The Young One has learned to deal with the bullying by hanging out with kids, mostly older, who are more mature and share his interests. When you’re in the 8th grade, you gain a lot of clout by hanging out with high school students, and for some reason the bullies tend to leave you alone.

Jans last blog post..There’s a Method To My Madness…

I agree about people coming into your life at certain times. That they stick around is the true gift. As my mum says, friends come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.