Friendships age 8 and how to deal with problems/when to involve teacher...

[CocktailQueen]

My dd is 8 and quite sensitive. Yesterday she was v upset as she had overheards some boys in her class saying 'XXX stinks, pass it along' about her. (She didn't smell, btw.) She was v upset. What can I say to her - apart from ignore them, they're just being silly. If you don't react they won't bother.

And when should I involve the teacher?

Personally I think she needs to grow a thicker skin, but I am nails.
Does she have a lot of trouble from this group of boys or was it a one off? My DD is Y6 and has run into a load of grief from the girls in her class.
Apparently they say she is posh, a lesbian, boy/sex mad and shouldn't play football. In her land it is every single girl which I can't believe.
I would see how it goes over the next couple of weeks and if it continues tell the teacher so she can have a world with them about kindness.

Marking my place - your dd sounds similar to mine CocktailQueen

I would say she needs to toughen up a bit, it's going to get worse once the girls start in seniors. I always thought the boys being silly about the girls was a great way of my dds learning that names don't hurt. Once she is a bit older it will get much tougher and the girls will actually mean it. A bit of ribbing by the boys is harmless and the boys don't hold grudges, they do it to everyone. I think it's more about how you deal with explaining this to her and it sounds as if you are handling it well. If it's focused only on her, other people are joining in and she feels isolated then I would tell the teachers.

My DD is eight...it all sounds quite normal to me.
Tomorrow they'll probably be saying something else about someone else.
We get daily reports of "..and then x said that y said that z was lying, and z told a to tell b to tell x...."

Girls are far worse than boys at this age IMO/E - she needs to learn to ignore it, wherever it is coming from - the trick to teach her I think, if you can, is to pretend not to care. If she can pull that off with the boys, it's great practice for the sneakier (and more damaging) things that girls say to/about each other.

As others have said - if it is consistently about her and only about her, then is the time to subtly alert the teacher.