Year 7

[Turkey18]

My DD is starting High School in September. My anxiety is through the roof! I'm worried about bullying. I had a terrible time at school. Kids can be so cruel.

They can be and you child will have to learn to defend themselves and not take crap from anyone. If they tell the teacher every time X says anything not nice they’ll be targeted by others.
I few verbal comebacks and don’t hit first goes a long way

I've really focussed on teaching my youngest that if someone says mean things etc etc it's usually because they feel bad about something or are having a bad time. I've seen over the last year (he's 11 starting highschool) that he's really learning to brush off incidents that I would consider bullying. I intend to continue making sure he knows that other peoples personal opinions of him are not important and he's an amazing kid and trying to keep the communication open with him.
Bullying isn't right but I think it's something we have to talk about and teach our kids to be confident and open.

Has your daughter suffered before? Friends going with her too?

I sure as hope you aren’t revealing this anxiety to your dd though

Was it a problem at primary? I'm wondering why you are so concerned about it?
DS2 is starting this week. There is a fair chance he is going to get eaten alive for being different. But all I've said to him is to say hello to everyone, and find some friends. If, and that's a big if, my fears come true, I'll talk to school. It happened at both primaries, and got sorted.
DS1 is also a bit quirky, but sociable with it. Seeing his group of friends makes me realize quite how lovely some kids can be. You just need to find the ones that gel with you.