So this happened

[PrincessFiona]

Zoe is big on "standing up" for people when they are being bullied at school. At our last conference, her teacher mentioned this as a particular strength of hers ... she is not afraid to say "leave that person alone" and the kids know she is very protective.

Recently, on Club Penguin, she has experienced some bullying where someone told her to "go die" and "i hate you" etc. As a response, she filmed these people with her video camera and posted the bullying to her youtube channel (where she is currently famous with ~16 or 17 followers).

So.....

Here is where it gets tricky.

She has multiple Club Penguin accounts so that she can access them from separate devices, play different characters, and make movies from them.

Yesterday, I discovered that she was playing on Club Penguin as two people.

Her first persona was her regular, nice self. She was hanging out with a girl talking.
Then?
The next persona that she brought into the conversation was her bullying self. The bully came in and said "i don't like you. go away" to the other girl.
Her nice persona immediately responded "you go away. You aren't allowed to be a bully."
Her mean persona then apologized to the girl and went away.

She saw nothing wrong with this. In fact, she thought she was standing up for the other person and that the other person would be happy.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

She's just role playing isn't she? Is that bad? I would think she's just "practicing" what she's been praised for.

[scrub-jay]

She's just role playing isn't she? Is that bad? I would think she's just "practicing" what she's been praised for.

This is exactly my thought too. Role playing may be her way of processing bullying, seems healthy and normal to me.

[ladymoreta]

I think the role playing is fine, but just remind her that the other girl was still probably legitimately hurt by her bully-self, even after her nice-self stood up for her. It was still bullying.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

I think the role playing is fine, but just remind her that the other girl was still probably legitimately hurt by her bully-self, even after her nice-self stood up for her. It was still bullying.

Maybe show her the paper analogy. You start with a nice clean fresh piece of paper and crumble it to represent bullying. Even after you flatten the paper back out, there are still creases and whatnot. So, even though she "straightened the paper", her bully self still left "creases" in the girl's self esteem.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Oh ok, I thought she was bullying herself (in "public"). You're right, I'm more concerned if she is using other people she might hurt to do it.

I love GRU's idea. I think she's probably just trying out different things and has zero malicious intent but you're right that there's an innocent bystander getting hurt.

[Thirteen]

Maybe show her the paper analogy. You start with a nice clean fresh piece of paper and crumble it to represent bullying. Even after you flatten the paper back out, there are still creases and whatnot. So, even though she "straightened the paper", her bully self still left "creases" in the girl's self esteem.

Stealing this...


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[alotofyarn]

I agree with LM and GRU.

[scrub-jay]

Oh ok, I thought she was bullying herself (in "public"). You're right, I'm more concerned if she is using other people she might hurt to do it.

I totally missed this too.

[diggitydot]

Sticking up for those being bullied is great! However, it's negated by creating the bullying scenario in the first place.

Standing up for someone = good

Pretending to be a bully so an alter ego can stand up to them = still bullying

[Meenah]

I agree with it is still bullying. She is very kind, smart and clever, just needs some guidance.

[PrincessFiona]

Oh. I am all over this.


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