Sticks & Stones

So we all know the saying, Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. Really? You think? It must of been a man that came up with that because its a really, really stupid thing to say! Children who were bullied were up to nine times more likely to have suicidal thoughts, say some studies. As a mother of three this scares me! To make it worse for me {two of those three being little ladies} British studies say girls who were victims of bullying in their early primary school years were more likely to remain victims as they got older. Bullying doesn't stop in childhood years, as my mother promised it would. Yes kids are cruel yadayadayada but it never ends! I watched this one study on a bullying doco, They had a group of girls in a park. Five girls were the bullies and one girl was the victim. They wanted to see the reactions of the elder women around them. Now I would of done what every single one of those women did, they pulled the five bullies up on their actions, but then went on to bully the bullies to make the victim feel better. Which in turn, makes them a bully too! It is a very very fine line. Being a young mum I need to learn all this now, because I'm scared the day one of my babies comes home upset about "real" bullying I'm going to march into the school and pick a fight with the kids mum. I say "real" bullying as my eldest is 5 and goes through BFF's like she changes her knickers. Having been bullied in primary school pretty bad, then leaving school and getting a breast reduction because of the bullying {Go figure, getting bullied FOR having boobies?? } I know I never want my babies to go through this. I would love to know how you deal with bullies? For your kids and yourself?