Bullies

With all the press surrounding bullying these days, it's become a topic that we have started to talk to Haylee about. Sure she's only 4, but she has been receiving end of a bully....but she has also been the bully.

When I say Haylee has been the bully, let me clarify. She wasn't being "mean" in her eyes, she was joking. Now let me say, I'm not one of those moms that have the "Not my little Johnny" attitude. If my girl does something wrong, she will get disciplined...and 9 times out of 10, even if it WASN'T her fault, she will still be talked to and let know that it was wrong.

So what happened was Haylee has this bff at school. Let's call her "Amy" for arguments sake. Well Amy is a bully...and Haylee got sucked in. Amy has been telling other kids to, "eat grass" and calling them, "baby" and telling them, "you're not my friend!". Haylee has been joining in on this...or rather HAD been joining in on this. I was assured this morning that it has gotten much better this week and my wonderful daughter has been sticking up for these kids!

Jon and I decided to go the route that we would explain to her that she needed to tell Amy, when Amy is being mean, "Don't be mean to him/her! They are my friend!" And it's worked! Haylee's teacher told me that she has been doing much better with it, but that it has made Amy mad at Haylee. The day after Haylee started this, she got a dose of her own medicine and Amy was mean to Haylee telling her they were no longer friends. According to teacher, that really upset Hay...but since then, Hay has not bullied anyone and has made MORE friends because of it.

Bully crisis, averted....for now at least!

How do you talk with your kids about it? How do you ensure that you're kids have compassion for others and don't become a bully?