Lots of talk about bullying in the media lately. But I think "mean girls" has it's own special category versus boys that are bullies. As much as I hope my daughter won't get bullied, it's a bigger fear of mine that she would be the "mean girl"!

A nice posting via "A Mighty Girl" this morning:

The problem of "mean girls" or relational aggression, a common form of bullying among girls, is a concern of many parents but what happens when it's your daughter being the bully. Here's one dad's personal account of how he confronted the problem head-on: "I've worked with enough middle and high school youth groups over the years to know that a 13 year-old girl with time on her hands and an easy target is one definition of Evil. But I imagined all this drama as starting a little later -- not in first grade."

He continues, "I told her about the cancelled play date and how her actions were related, which led to a storm of tears. Even so, there was an upside from a parenting perspective: this was a low-cost lesson. I was pretty sure that she could easily enough repair her friendship with the girls she had been mean to and that, if we consciously maintained a dialogue about how to be good to her peers, all the girls involved would benefit. We began repeating a mantra at school drop-off: The kindest kid is the best kid."

You can read blogger David Valdes Greenwood's entire post, "Mean Girls, The Starter Edition," via the link below.
{ETA: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-valdes-greenwood/mean-girls_b_1127560.html}

For an excellent resource for parents of girls aged 5 to 12 concerned either about their daughters being the victim of bullying or exhibiting bullying behaviors, we highly recommend "Little Girls Can Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-Proof Girls in the Early Grades" at http://www.amightygirl.com/little-girls-can-be-mean

For more books for parents that address bullying of girls of all ages, visit our "Bullying Prevention" parenting section at http://www.amightygirl.com/parenting/bullying

For young girls who are confronting a bullying / "mean girl" situation right now, three books are highly recommended: "Trouble Talk" for ages 6 to 9 (http://www.amightygirl.com/trouble-talk); "My Secret Bully" for ages 5 to 8 (http://www.amightygirl.com/my-secret-bully); or, for slightly older girls from 7 to 12, "Stand Up For Yourself and Your Friends" (http://www.amightygirl.com/stand-up-for-yourself-and-your-friends)

For books for girls of all ages that bullying, visit our special feature on the "Top Books on Bullying Prevention for Mighty Girls" at http://www.amightygirl.com/mighty-girl-picks/top-books-on-bullying-prevention-for-mighty-girls

Which is your greater fear? That she is the bully or being bullied?