Girls can be mean.  Kids can be mean. Adults are no different – sadly.  No one is immune to bullying but everyone has the ability to be kind.

We have heard a lot about mean girls, almost to exhaustion, yet it doesn’t make it go away or even get better.  Girls gossip, they will berate other girls until they cry and feel like dying.

Newly released, one of my favorite authors, Katie Hurley launched  No More Mean Girls (TarcherPerigee). This book will be a game changer for parents, educators and caregivers.

Leading by example.

I still believe a lot of what goes on starts at the top.  Our kids are watching adults – parents and how they treat others.  Girls will watch their mother’s gossip and belittle other mothers, neighbors and even the neighborhood kids.  It is absolutely unacceptable.

The power of girl cliques can be deadly in schools.  Especially if your daughter is locked out of one.  Is it any different if you are a mother that isn’t included for coffee or lunch?  Or worse – is the topic of the coffee or lunch gossip.

Communication with our kids can be difficult at times, but so important. Stay engaged with your child, know who their friends are and if they are having any difficulties with peers.  Be in touch with how they are feeling.

Especially with technology today, online harassment can make your child an easier target for bullies.  Teach your child how to report abuse online and not to be afraid to tell an adult when they are being taunted. Instilling digital wisdom should be a daily routine.  Building trust is imperative to a child.  You are their advocate.

Kind Campaign is an internationally recognized movement, documentary and school program based upon the powerful belief in KINDness that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl “crime.”

Follow them on Twitter and join them on Facebook.

In my new book, Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate (Sourcebooks) we chatted with the founders of the KIND Campaign both Lauren Paul and Molly Thompson.

After watching Finding Kind, the girls are inspired to get up and publicly apologize for a misdeed, pledge to make a change, and write a note of appreciation to an acquaintance. Girls are driven to tearful confessions in the “Truth Booth” about how emotionally scarring bullying can be. “We try and leave girls with the message that [the bullying] they’re experiencing is one small, tiny chapter of their whole story,” says Molly. “It’s so hard to really grasp that there are so many amazing experiences they will have, [that] they don’t need to change themselves.”

Take the time to change a life – it always comes full circle….

Order Shame Nation today from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million or Indie Books.