Kate Cohen- Posey, M.S., LMHC, LMFTHow to Handle Bullies, Teasers and Other Meanies: A Book That Takes the Nuisance Out of Name Calling and Other Nonsense

Phooey! Don't believe the negative ratings unless you've got a kid in an inner-city school and he's coming home every night with a black eye (in which case you need to get him to a self-defense class). If you've got a suburban or rural kid who's just getting teased incessantly, or dealing with irritating cliques every day, and he can read relatively well and can remember things pretty well-- this book is a big help. Sometimes witty come-backs are just the thing for throwing off bullies- and if they *don't* incite violence, well, I'm all for it.By the way-- school ends. It really does. These skills for dealing with annoying, unhappy, crabby, mean and unnerving people help well into adulthood.If your kid is in a school where he's getting beat up by gangs, or paying the school "mob" every day so he can sit down for lunch-- think long and hard about whether your life choices are benefiting your kids. Get a tiny apartment in another town. It's not worth endangering your kids' safety.Steph (single mom of four)

I love Kate Cohen-Posey. I wish she lived in Maryland instead of Fla. as I would go into therapy just to get her wisdom! I gave this book to someone whose child was having a hard time with other girls picking on her. I looked through it first and it looked useful. Take a look at her books for grown-ups. I have about three (some are workbooks). The most important one to get is Making Hostile Words Harmless.

This book exceeded expectations. It's not only helpful to my 11 year old, but I find the tips helpful for me as an adult who does leadership training for a living! One of the things that I loved about it was responding to the human inside the bully yet being powerful and effective at the same time! Outstanding!

Excellent book with very specific language to help deal with bullying and teasing. It also includes some insights in HOW bullies and teasers are created and how the behavior is NOT the core person. One of the best books I have seen on this topic.

I love this book

Grandson liked the come backs suggested and I think he feels more confident on how to handle "them".

I decided I had to return this book when I ready it had in it written “n____” when the bully was referring to a black person. There is no way I could read this to a client.

"Teasers and meanies" don't exist anymore, if they ever did. And "bullies" are going to have a lot of fun with your child if you are naive enough to give a 4th - 7th grader this book.Kindergarten, maybe.If you've got a kid experiencing bully problems, you need to be aware that giving bad advice is worse than doing nothing. Do your research - research your kid's school situation, research real-world bullying situations, and above all avoid books like this one. Try reading "Lord Of The Flies" instead - it's a lot closer to what today's schoolyard culture is really like.Think of a wolf pack or a chicken pecking-order. Kids bully to enhance their own position. Your child needs to learn how to act strong, because weak chickens get pecked to death.Other kids - even "nice" ones - will either join in or do nothing. For one thing, they have their own position to worry about, and if they defend your child, they may become the new target.Also, there's a strong cultural belief that suggests victims invite their own abuse. As the late Ann Landers put it, "nobody can take advantage of you without your permission". Let's face it: we don't sympathize with wimps, whiners, clueless people, professional victims, the "politically correct", "people who play the blame game", etc. School counselors like to post things like "Who ever said life was fair?" on their walls. Forget about "justice" or "fair play". That may be commonplace in the grownup world, but it isn't real on the schoolyard.By the time a bullied kid gets to the 7th grade, he or she may very well be experiencing real physical abuse, vandalized lockers, obscene graffiti, vicious rumours, having their stuff stolen and trashed, internet slander campaigns, sexual harrassment, near-total ostracization - and all of this is fairly routine stuff. The really "serious" bullying is terrifying; it can include things that would be considered "violent crimes" if the public schools weren't held to a different standard.Bullied kids can be seriously scared to go to school - one of the tipoffs that your kid may be having bully problems is when he or she wants to stay home sick all the time.Do your kid a favor. Skip this book and just talk to him or her about how things are at school, and LISTEN to your kid if he or she tries to tell you there are problems. Skip the cutesy advice; not only does it not work, but it's one of the biggest reasons kids "know better" than to try to talk to grownups about the problems they're experiencing. And - if your kid is really having problems with bullying - don't rely on school officials. If they knew what they were doing, your child would not be going to the sort of school where bullying is allowed to occur.One book I would recommend (instead) for a 4th grader is Judy Blume's "Blubber". It was written a long time ago, but it captures that wolf-pack mentality that grownups typically seem to "just not get".This book might not be bad for a younger child. But NOT for the 4th to 7th grade listed in this book's info blurb.

I bought this book to help my son out at school. I later found it is on the recommended reading list of the county council school nurse.We found it useful, giving scenarios and suggested responses to help children cope with confrontational situations, but it is rather American and we didn't understand some of the insults - probably a good thing!The general gist is to keep one step ahead of the bully and turn insults into conversations and hopefully turn the bully into a friend. e.g.Bully: 'You smell'Child: 'How sweet of you to notice, but I do wonder why you want to smell me!'Bully: [now confused] 'I don't' [walks off]Not for everyone perhaps, but it may be useful.

This book contains a well constructed system to support my child how to cop with bullying in the school. The proposals are simple and meaningful and I think if the bullying is not really strong then it can help. I believe in the combination of training my child according to this book and parallel start to handle the bullies through their parents and teachers. In many cases it helps.

good book bought for son