As many long time visitors to this blog (or my other blog) may remember, my daughters were bullied in school, both by students and teachers. I recently saw a low-rated American Girl story, Chrissa Stands Strong, that really hit home, and other than some iffy acting, I really don’t see why it was so low-rated.

Since it’s the end of August, and so many kids are heading back to school in just a couple of days (or a week or so) I thought the parents reading this blog could share this with their kids. The movie, not the blog…

In it, young Chrissa Matthews has just moved to Minnesota with her parents and older brother. They’ve moved in with her grandmother (the ever fantastic Michael Learned) to help out following the death of her grandfather.

Going to a new school can be difficult, right? But getting off on the wrong foot with the school’s nastiest bully – a ten-year-old girl with an entourage – can double that difficulty. Treble, perhaps.

Eventually, things turn around for Chrissa when the teachers and parents of the other students (including one of the bullying students!) actually step up and do what’s right. They make an effort in ending the bullying.

What happened here with my girls and with the kids of other families who aren’t of the ‘in crowd’ is entirely the opposite. I’ve heard from other families, both locally and online, that they’ve encountered similar problems. Here, two of the biggest bullies were actually organizers of the anti-bullying rally (different years), and the school backed them, 100%!

This movie kindled some hope. I know it’s all sparkles and candy and ponies and rainbows – so totally not me, as my daughter pointed out – but, it did its job. I’ve never been so glad to discard my book in favor of the background noise. <|;^) Watch An American Girl: Chrissy Stands Strong – you might be glad you did.

Until next week…
<3 JL