Meanness gets under the skin of kind kids who get stuck in their tracks, unsure of how to stand up for themselves. Like a deer in the headlights, kind kids can find themselves frozen to the spot. They can be so frightened of the ramifications of taking a stand that they hide away. Kind kids run out of strategies for how to tackle the meanness and take care of themselves. Well, not anymore.
Australian parenting speaker, author and educator Michelle Mitchell has a powerful antidote to meanness with her ‘Push back with truth’ video. It’s short, snappy and brilliant. She teaches our kids to assertively push back. Instead of ignoring it, or meeting meanness with meanness, Michelle suggests that kids courageously push back with words of truth. Saying things like, “Hey, I don’t think you should be saying that to me – I’m a really nice person,” gives a child the power they need to stand up for themselves in the moment.