Cliques, Mean Girls & How to Teflon Your Child

The school yard may be Wonderland for some, but for others, it's a battlefield. For some children, they have to summon up all the courage they have in their little hearts, just to be able to face the music everyday. And for others, the school yard represents giggles, square ball, and idle chit-chat. Do you remember how difficult it was to make friends? Maybe for you, it wasn't difficult at all. Maybe, like me, kids were drawn to you and you had the luxury of lunch-boxing with whomever you wanted. But if you were anything like my brother, making friends was no easy task, and he was often left out because he was a little different. So the question is, how to you prepare your child for the minefield that is the school yard? How do you prepare them for those catty cliques and sassy squabbles over superficial things? Here are a few things my mama taught me:

1) Never walk with your head down!

Bumping into playground equipment is social suicide, and if you're not paying attention, you'll miss the troupe of mean girls traipsing across the yard to give you some uninvited advice on what your mother happened to dress you in that day. Clothes are superficial, hair is superficial, it's what comes out of your mouth that matters. And above all, even if you're not confident, 'fake it 'til you make it'. Yes, those were my mama's words when I was 5!

2) Don't be afraid to do your own thing!

My mama always told me that using my imagination was my secret weapon. I used to watch the X-Files as a kid, and I loved to pretend that I was an FBI agent just like Dana Skully. Running around the playground, looking for evidence of alien beings was one of my favourite games, and though I might have appeared a bit nuts to some of the other kids, I always had a smile on my face, and other kids eventually joined my pint-sized FBI agency.

3) Always tattle!

My mama and pop taught me that there is absolutely nothing wrong with telling on someone. This whole notion that being a tattle-tale is bad thing may seem to make sense if you don't want your child to have a target on his or her back. But in the long run, it's incredibly dangerous. Better to be a tattle-tale than a tortured soul. Physical scars fade over time, but emotional scars can take a lifetime to heal.

Being a kid these days is no easy task, I know, because I remember beating up my brother's bullies on a regular basis! The advice my mama gave me and my brother worked wonders for me, but for my brother, the road was much longer, and little a bumpier, but in the end, he came out on top. Life isn't a bowl of cherries, and parents can't pave the road to success for their children, it's a journey of self-discovery and mishaps.