Part 3 Seven Pointers for Parents (& Teachers!)
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Seven Pointers for Parents
to Help Your Kid Deal with a Mean Kid
And One Action Your Child Can Take to Go
From Hurt to Helper
These seven Pointers worked wonderfully for us until…
Drew was in 3rd grade. That’s when I began to see a shift. About half the kids were still open, while the other half had grown more angry, cynical, and less reachable. 3rd grade.
We didn’t even make it through two weeks of 4th grade before Drew was being harassed
and “bullied” to a more alarming degree.
And that’s when it happened…
I saw warning signs for suicide.
It was then, in 2017, that I knew we could no longer just casually share our story.
Drew was nine years old and came home from school every single day weeping from the depth of his soul.
This time the question he asked was,
“Mom, what is wrong with me?”
And, of course, my answer was- it’s not you.
Remember their hearts hurt…
But this time, nothing I said seemed to matter.
Not knowing what else to do, I held my breath when I asked him if he wanted to take what we’d been doing, since he was five years old, and make it bigger, louder and more official.
Without hesitation he said, “Yes.”
And his sorrow shifted to curiosity.
I felt a glimmer of hope. Hope that this could empower him, once again.
I knew we faced a bigger challenge this time around, and I knew it needed some more depth and maybe some additional tools, so I immediately went to work.
And as we developed our ideas to reach out to others Drew immediately went
From Hurt to Helper.
I am still overwhelmed with gratitude that Drew was not only brave, but also that he just naturally had such a helping heart. I believe most kids do!
Though he was hurting so deeply, he still wanted more than anything to help others.
And that’s exactly what he did. He channeled all that energy into helping instead of hurting.
And that’s exactly why we’re still here today helping kids
Exemplify Love and Friendship 365 days a year
AND why I’m sharing Guidance for Grownups with The Secre Pond blog and The Secret Pond with Carmen Miller on Substack... based on my own experiences.
Because it’s the grownups behind the scenes in these stories, it’s us, who leave the biggest impressions and have the most influence on our kids.
That’s why I share how my Grandad positively influenced my life in
The Secret Pond Perspective and my own take on life through humor and humility with
Don’t Be a BEEP with Carmen Miller
If the Pointers I used with Drew resonated with you, I’d like to invite you to download our
FREE 7 Pointers for Parents to Help Your Kid Deal with a Mean Kid Poster!
It’s free on our member page.
Plus, our children’s book, The Bad Kid, is based on our true story, the story that inspired ELF365. It’s also a great resource to help your child go From Hurt to Helper.
The Bad Kid invites you to join in and do ELF365 Basic Training and follow along with Drew and our other ELF kids as they show you how to
think like an ELF and be your best sELF.
OR go through ELF365 Helper Hero Academy and join Super Drew in Helper Hero training.
OR better yet, do both!
We have lots of free resources and lots of fun, too…
and we’re always recruiting more ELFs to help us power our ELFolution.
As Grandad always used to say,
“Now there’s some sense to that.”
Until next time, wishing you much love and laughter,
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