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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a mom of a DD who will be heading to MS in a year this is all terrifying. MS sucked for me.  Knowing all this, how do MS counselors and teachers deal with it? Or is it just ignored?[/quote]

What are the teachers supposed to do?  In middle school?  They aren't babysitters?  We went through this early and often - and frankly, it helped my girls deal with matters on their own.  And they did! [/quote]

My kids' school deals with it.  It's private so there is more leeway to deal with social-emotional issues.  They've had a curriculum about it since K, dealing with age-appropriate social issues, and bullying and cliques have been discussed since they were quite young.  Does it stave off all the bullying and meanness?  No, I'm sure there's still some.  But probably less if it went completely unaddressed.  [/quote]

If you are referencing an anti bullying program in elementary, be warned that all the lessons fly out the window in middle. [/quote]

No, not just that, though bullying has been addressed.  Again, it's private, so there is more time and resources to address these things.  SEL curriculum woven throughout, and also social "engineering" that helps breaks up cliques and discourages meanness.  For example, lunch is not a free-for-all, you are assigned a table where you might not be with your besties, you talk with who is at your table.  Same with group or partner assignments.  More teacher monitoring of how these are working.  This has been going on all through their school years, so they are used to it.  I would have to say it has resulted in less meanness  -- if you have been partners with "the weird kid" and gotten to know her better, maybe it's harder to be mean to her later on.

My DD is in 6th so I don't think I'm completely naive about middle school.  Friends with kids in older grades also say the school is strong in SEL, and they are grateful that it seems to smooth out some of the worst of the middle school meanness.   [/quote]

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