Friend to the rescue!

It was my turn for the lesson tonight during Family Home Evening. I wanted more discussion on bullying and friendship. We're doing fine in that department, but prevention and preparation go a long ways, ya know?

The September 2009 issue of the Friend magazine was exactly what I needed! There was a great story about a girl who sought help for someone else being bullied, and then a good couple pages of lists that described examples of bullying, what to do if you're a victim, and what to do to help someone else. The kids were very attentive! After that I had some strips of paper with either a "situation" to act out or a question to answer. My favorite scenario was when Wade was supposed to be the bully and I was the kid he was picking on. The kids were a little shocked when I said, "STOP!" in a very FIRM voice, but I think they got the message! Jason had some great input on what makes a good friend, too.

Here are links to the articles I used:

Scriptures and Bullies
Stop Bullying Now

59

That's how many inches tall Rhiannon was a couple of weeks ago. That means I've got 1 inch on her, tops--she's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight.

Yesterday she and Wade were out in the front yard playing some Indian survival game. They'd sectioned the yard into different tribal areas and were having a total blast. Rhiannon stood on top of one of the rocks near the front door and said, "Wow, the view is really cool from here. Is this what Dad sees? I want to be tall like him!"

Wade likes to check his height against me, too. It doesn't look like he's grown much until I compare him to the average height of the new kindergarteners at school--then there is a BIG difference! :)

Other newsy stuff--Rhiannon is running for a popular position on Student Council (Historian/Photographer). She is really excited about making posters and giving a speech, but she also realizes she's up against many of her friends. We ran into her teacher at WalMart yesterday who noticed the poster board in our cart. :) She said she was amazed and impressed by how many kids were running--in her class alone, there are 20 kids trying out. I hope Rhiannon makes it, and if she doesn't, we'll do something fun to celebrate her hard work and willingness to try something new!

Remember THIS post? (click here) Earlier in the week I asked Wade if everything was going okay in school. He opened up about a bigger 3rd grader at recess times who was being mean to him and his friends when they tried to play basketball, calling them little kids and pushing them around. He hadn't told teachers because he didn't want to bother them. I'm so glad I asked him how he was doing, and I AM SO GLAD THAT WADE SAID SOMETHING! We had a good family discussion about what to do, how the most important action was to tell a teacher or lunch duty adult right away!!! That night I emailed his teacher to tell her what was going on. She responded to my email IMMEDIATELY, told Wade the same things we did, and also let the principal and the 3rd grader's teacher know what was going on. Wade says that he didn't even see the kid the rest of the week. Most important, Wade knows now that there are people who care about him at school, too!