Combating Name Calling

So this kid in Sophie’s class, “K,” who I thought she was friends with, the other day I guess thought he was “funny” and sang, “ABCDEFG, Sophie is my enemy.” And as you might imagine, that really hurt Sophie’s feelings. In fact, she told the teacher and K got his name moved down on the chart (a very bad thing in 1^st grade).

And then she told her dad who said, “What I always used to say to kids was, ‘I’m rubber, you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.’” Seriously? That’s not really what I want to be teaching my child but I guess it’s all elementary kid stuff anyway, I don’t know. I think the old “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” is better and I told Sophie that. To which she replied, “But names DO hurt me.” And I said I know that but you just have to act like they don’t.

And then she asked me “What SHOULD I say?” and I didn’t have a great answer. I know that “Just ignore them; walk away” which is what my mom taught me definitely does NOT work.

What are the solutions you give to your kids to combat name calling?