Paris JacksonWhen I heard Michael Jackson's daughter was sitting down for a heart-to-heart with Oprah Winfrey, I prepped the tissues. I knew I'd cry when Paris Jackson opened up about her dad. I just didn't realize I'd be crying tears of rage.

According to Paris, her teenage classmates have nothing better to do with their time than bully her. If that doesn't show that there are some severely cruel kids in this world, I don't know what does. Remember, we aren't just talking any kid getting picked on here.

Paris Jackson is a kid who lost her dad. She's a kid who everyone in the world knows has gone through an incredibly rough time in life. But as Paris told Oprah, even she has to deal with petty high school mean girls who are nice to her face only to stab her in the back.

So much for compassion.

That, in a nutshell, is what makes bullying so difficult for me to understand. Common sense dictates that someone who has been through a trauma should get the nicest treatment, not the worst. A kid like Paris should be above the fray because she's already taken enough lumps, first losing her dad, then having to undergo the trial of MJ's doctor. And yet, as we hear so often, "kids are cruel." Like a pride lions going after the gazelle with the bum leg, they attack the "weak" ones.

So what does Paris' ordeal say about our kids, kids who don't have quite as big a story that cries out for sympathy? There's nothing to protect them from the vultures, really.

How do you talk to your kids about treating other kids who have been through a trauma?

 

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