Mediation is one of my favorite things to do in my job. I’m not even shy in saying that I’m really good at it. When my students are having a conflict that is worth discussing then I’m always ready to sit down with them and act as their mediator to help them understand larger life lessons. Recently, I’ve been fairly busy with kids who are having problems with the opposite sex and gossiping and texting. (Don’t get me started on sexting. I can write a book on what I’ve dealt with this year on sexting.) (OMG, kids! Stop taking pictures of yourself and sending them to people!) (NO ONE keeps a naked picture to themselves. They always pass it around!)
When a couple of boys came into my office to get a talking to about some girls they had been harassing and bothering I was looking at the larger picture of how they were bullying the girls and spreading gossip about them that was particularly hurtful.
When there’s a lot of gossip going on I’ve noticed that one gender in specific gets the brunt of it.
Boy 1: “Yeah. So?”
I’m trying to get you to see that it’s not fair. And that leads to a larger social problem.
Boy 2: “Uh huh. And…?”
Let’s try this. Fill in the blank for me, ok? “Most gossip in high schools seems to be about ________.”
Boy 1: “Sluts?”
Boy 2: “Bitches?”
There’s a large bruise in the middle of my forehead from smacking it on my desk.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Aaaaw HELL no.
Oh my damn. Pass GO, collect 1 Hello Kitty Band-Aid and next time tell them:
Guys who gossip are at a higher risk of Bitchassness than guys who don’t. Noooo guy wants to be accuseed of Bitchassness because that’s how you earn your Bitch card. And really what guy wants to be a bitch?
Then explain to them that they just lost cool points for that, deliver whatever punishment you will and walk away from them shaking your head. Let me know how it works out…
HA. I made Libby say HELL.
Katrina. Girl. I’M SO DOING THAT.
Guys don’t sugarcoat it..they’ll tell you straight out if they think someone is a bitch or not…unlike girls/women.
Gossiping is best left to females because well it’s what they do best.
See I didn’t sugarcoat it. I could have put it in so many other forms of words but I put it right on the line.
naked pictures always get found…like by your daughter and her husband when organizing all of the families photos. and don’t even get me started on all of the coroner pictures in there! you don’t want to help me organize my parent’s pictures. really.
Hos?
Was the correct answer “tramps?”
Oh dear I cry for our future.
Is the desk OK? That’s a pretty big forehead.
(*deep sigh*) Lawd, help….
On the bright side, I heard on Tyra that about half the high school girls surveyed think that Chris Brown was WRONG to beat up Rhianna!
Check their thesaurus, maybe they were within the boundary of the definition.
On the other hand, leave them alone in a room with my 8 year old daughter. She’s an absolute angel if you’re on her good side. She’s also blacked 3 eyes and generated a need for 2 lots of facial stitches this year for boys who have made her the target of various grade 3 boy versus girl pranks.
She’s an A+ across the board so she can afford a 3 day enforced holiday every 6 weeks or so. 3 full days of playing the Play Station as a reward for sticking up for herself.
Daddy’s proud.
I can’t say I envy you your job at all. I’ve had to deal with so many crying girls and gossiping issues this year it isn’t even funny…and several sexting incidents. I was glad I could pass the buck to an A.P. with those. They were awkward to say the least!
“wow”…….