I know all of that full well. I walked into junior high very different than I left elementary school. During that summer I got glasses, braces on my teeth…and a backbrace. I had scoliosis, curved spine, and I had to wear a brace that went from my hips to my chin. The brace was worn under my clothes-but it meant I had to buy clothes 2-3 sizes larger than my petite frame required. Most of the first year I wore my brace 23 hours a day. I got one hour off to do physical therapy and take a shower.

In school the boys called me “Weebles” because as I walked down the hall, the neck part of my brace sort of wobbled from side to side. The other nickname was “Nuts and Bolts” because the part of the brace that was visible was all metal and screws, except for a plastic chin plate. Those years were difficult for me, but I had an awesome best friend, Kim, who was there for me every step of the way.

Like each of you, I survived junior high. I discovered my love for acting-because I could escape and be anyone but myself. At junior high graduation, the boys who taunted me for 3 years-presented me with a bag of nuts and bolts. I knew at that moment that everything was ok. I had more than survived junior high, I had grown as a person. My mom always told me, “They only pick on you because they like you.” I don’t think that was 100% true but it did help me get through a very awkward time in my life.

If you have a middle schooler or know a middle schooler-I want to tell you about a great book. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk Middle School: 101 Stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Younger Teens

In the vein of all of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, it is a collection of essays written by various authors. This particualr book has some pre-teen and teen authors as well as adults. It is a fun and enlightening collection of stories broken down into categories like: True Friend and New Friends, Mean Girls and Boys, Embarrassing Moments, That’s My Family and Doing What’s Right. The awesome people from Chicken Soup for the soul have given me a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk Middle School: 101 Stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Younger Teens
to give away to one of my Mom Maven readers.

How to Enter:
For your first entry: In your comment tell me 1 thing that made your middle school years awkward or embarrassing. You must also follow or subscribe to this blog and leave a comment here telling me that you have done this Please leave a valid e-mail address or twitter name so that I can notify if you win. **You must do all of this to be entered.

If you would like extra entries you can earn them for doing any or all of the following:

* tweet this contest and post the url of the tweet as a separate comment (you can do this 1x per day each day of the contest-just post each tweet url in a separate comment)
* blog about this contest and link to this post (not just a link to the contest) then leave me a link to your post in a separate comment
* stumble this post with a review and link it here in separate comment

The winner will be chosen on Thursday, March 19th at 10:00pm. Good Luck!!

The post Teens Talk Middle School-Review & Giveaway appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Sometimes as parents, we aren’t sure if our child is being bullied or if it is just kids being kids. A basic definition of bullying states, “Bullying is the use of one’s strength or status to intimidate, injure or humiliate another person of lesser status.” Bullying falls into three categories of behaviors; physical, verbal and social. Physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, any activity that is a physical assault or the threat of physical violence. Verbal bullying includes, name calling, insulting, or teasing. Social bullying includes peer rejection, exclusion to isolate or humiliate the victim, gossiping about the victim, and making prejudice comments. A bully’s acts are usually intentional and often repeated.

Who bullies? People who bully often have domineering and controlling personalities. They are quick to anger and usually have low self-esteem. Both boys and girls can be bullies. People who bully often have a need to dominate another person.

Continued bullying can have long-term effects on both the bully and the victim. 60% of young men who were bullies in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24. We must put and end to this trend. Children who are victims of bullying may see their grades slack off, begin self-injurious behavior and even commit suicide. On any given school day in the United States 160,000 children stay home from school because they fear bullies.

Later in this series we will discuss a proactive approach to bullying, what to do if your child is being bullied, and what to do if your child is a bully. This is a serious topic and it needs to be addressed. I want to thank @polkadotpatch on twitter for suggesting I write about bullying.

The post What is Bullying? appeared first on The Mom Maven.