What if Phoebe Prince knew those mean girls were nothing but a short blip in her life? That they would become a distant, if painful, memory? What if she had even one bold upperclassman to depend on? What if one of the adults actually took disciplinary action against the bullies? What if someone had been monitoring the ridiculous activity taking place on facebook? The what'if's are agonizing.
We've all had our own experience with mean girls. It hurts. But you learn who your real friends are through the process. You learn to dig deep within yourself and rise above it. And for me, track practice after school and my teammates made all the difference. I think there is a confidence and strength from playing sports that can make a difference in your self-esteem and identity.
I hope the older teenage girls will mentor the younger ones and tell them they will get through it. The 15 year olds worship the 17 year olds. My own teenage daughters were lucky to form strong bonds with seniors when they were freshmen, largely through playing high school sports. That made a ton of difference in their lives.
It's not easy being 15, a freshman in high school. Are you keeping up with this story? What can we do to prevent this in the future?
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