By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:34:12 +0000

This truly is a sticky subject – one that I believe doesn not really have one answer. I agree whole heatedly that we should should arm our kids with knowledge regarding verbal abuse -vs-verbal banter. Arm them with what exactly to ignor, what’s acceptable to “banter back”, what to “take” and what to “report, etc….but are parents going to take the time to do that? AND even if they do, will kids be able to “ignor” some kinds of verbal abuse? How much are they getting? I hate to be the reminder of bad news, but kids can be very, VERY mean! I endured many years of mean and horrible verbal abuse from peers from elementary school on up. My parents told me not to pay attention or to disregard the comments, however I was very hurt by those comments. I humiliated, at the whim of peers, many times. Altough I am all for “growing a tough skin” and YES – let’s teach our kids that…..we have to remember they ARE still kids. They are still growing, learning and unsure of how to handle lifes situations and trying things “on for size”….things like how to handle being belittled and humiliated like I was. Even if we parents teach them, can they pull it off – this ignoring of hurtfull words? I say yes, let’s teach our kids to ignor, to the best of our ability, unwanted verbal advances. To know when someone is joking and when someone has gone too far. But let’s also realize that they ARE kids themselves, they don’t know what we know yet. They are probably going to get hurt a few times and we can be here for them when they do – helping, teaching and loving.

Comments on: Verbal Put-Downs Slow Development, But Can They Help?

By: Jeanne