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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It doesn't start in kindergarten.

Mean girl behavior, as in the bullying kind, doesn't really emerge until middle school.

There are incidents where kids are are unkind to each other in younger years but that's more just fumbling and immaturity. [b]It's not systemic and deliberate taunting/exclusion etc. [/b][/quote]

I don't know, my older daughter experienced that in first grade from one particular girl who would also get a couple others to go along with her. It only takes one "mean" girl to start that behavior. She moved away, and it's been fine ever since. My younger daughter is now in second and hasn't experienced anything like that at all. [/quote]

+1, I have absolutely seen deliberate taunting and exclusion in very young kids. That doesn't mean I think these kids are mean or irredeemable, but I also don't just brush it off as "immaturity". Kids in K and 1st will absolutely engage in harmful behaviors like this, and often teachers don't intervene (for a variety of reasons, including the fact that parents can freak out about these interventions). You have to start teaching your kid how to deal with this behavior pretty early. And the girls absolutely start before the boys. I don't understand why but I've watched it happen -- way more competition over who plays with who as early as 5 or 6. [/quote]

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