Allow me to tell you why my daughter rocks.

My daughter is great.  Of course, I would think this anyway because she's, well, my daughter.  But this week she told me a great story after school.

Scott and I were both teased in school.  Neither of us handled it very well and we've carried that with us up until today.  I know everyone gets teased.  But we were both subjected to being hit/kicked in the back of the head, having the bathroom stall door kicked in while we were in there and other mean things.  (To this day I'll press my feet against a stall door if I'm feeling insecure)

I picked Zoe up from school and asked her to tell me two good things that happened at school.  We ask her this everyday.  She told us she was silly at recess.  Oh?  What happened?

Well, turns out that someone let their dog poop on the playground and didn't pick it up.  Zoe stepped in it a little.  Her friend yelled that Zoe stepped in dog poo!

Zoe announced "So?  I have two dogs at home.  I step in dog poop all the time.  I LOVE! dog poop!"  then she ran  after the kids standing around, waving her arms and yelling "I love dog poop!  I love dog poop!" before going back to what she was doing.

I almost cried with happiness.  She handled that gorgeously.   There's nothing to say to that.  She's also told us about days when one of her friends is in a bad mood and acts out, tossing pebbles at her or calling her a name.  In those instances, Zoe leaves after asking her friend to stop.  She just walks off and does something else.   I was an adult before I learned that skill.  

We told her she was awesome.  She grinned and giggled.

I have heard that parents have started to advise their children to say 'Yeah, and?'  when someone says something nasty about them.  There's no answer to that.

You're ugly!!!
Yeah, and?
Uhhh......


This is pretty much what my daughter did that day.  Said Yeah, and? and it was over.


The fear, of course, is that the bully will become frustrated and smack you one.  But, you're not the one who'll be suspended.

The anti-bullying attitude in schools is very different from when I was in school.  We are very lucky that we live in an area where the school district takes it very seriously.  I have confidence that, should we have an issue, we would be listened to and a plan put into place.

If not, I'll send my kids to martial arts classes and tell them to defend themselves but only if they have to.

However, it would appear that we've got a nice amount of self-esteem going on in our girl-child.  She should be able to handle things on her own.

Amanda's beauty tip of the day:  Mayonnaise is still one of the best deep hair conditioners.  Apply to dry hair, concentrating on the ends.  Put on a shower cap and leave it for as long as you can stand it before shampooing.