Reply #78: Thanks

[TuxedoKat]

If someone physically tried to harm her she would definitely defend herself. She knows not to throw the first blow though. Most of this bullying is verbal -- sexual harrassment and emotionsal abuse. I am trying to help her understand why she is being treated this way and how to handle it to give her some control and power back over the situation. Yes, I definitely had her in sports and other activities to help her grow up strong and self-confident. Bullies feel threatened though by strong, outgoing self-confident kids that stand out. She's also a beautiful girl of color so she stands out for those differences too in our largely caucasian community. That's a scary combination for some kids -- a girl of color who is better-looking, more-talented (in myriad ways) than most of them are and stonger and more self-confident too. In the world some of them were raised in, that is not how life is supposed to be I guess.