On parenting a bullied child

A recent ESPN article addresses teen bullying and quotes a statistic from the National Youth Violence Prevention Center that “nearly one in three youths nationwide said they were bullied, have been bullies or both.”

That’s a sobering fact and something that I’m well aware of as the mother of a 14-year-old.

A few days ago when I picked up my daughter from school she was crying. She told me that a few of the girls at school were teasing her and that one girl tried to stick a dirty candy wrapper in her mouth.

My daughter said that she held her hands to her mouth and tried to back away. She said that another girl then walked behind her and smacked her on the side of her face.

But when I asked her for information about the girls who were bullying her, she told me through tears that she wanted to handle it on her own.

I spoke to the principal and vice principal at my daughter’s school. All of the girls, including my daughter, sat with a school counselor to discuss the incident.

But the entire episode concerns me, especially in light of recent childhood suicides linked to bullying (see stories here and here).

It is a balancing act, because my daughter’s encounter went from bullying and teasing to physical violence and intimidation very quickly.

And how do I help her make sense of what has happened? What am I to do with my anger? What am I to do with my need to protect my child?