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2 Rules for Stopping Gossip
Rumors and gossip are a bad idea when it comes to building healthy friendships. Encourage your daughter, or the girls you work with, to be the kind of girl who stops rumors, rather than spreading them. Stopping rumors is a powerful friendship move and can be done in two simple steps.
- Refuse to repeat gossip to others.
- Tell the person to stop spreading rumors and gossip.
How does it all work?
Look the rumor-starter in the eye and using a strong (but not raised) voice say, “That sounds like a rumor. You should talk with _____________________(name of person rumor is about) and not spread that to anyone else.”
It really is that simple, though admittedly it takes a lot of courage and character for a young person to stand up for what is right, in the face of friends doing things that are wrong.
BE that kind of girl! BE the adult that reassures young girls that this is a bold, powerful move and it it the hallmark of real friendship!
The 2 Rules for Stopping Gossip are excerpted from Session 3 of Friendship & Other Weapons: Group Activities to Help Young Girls Aged 5-11 to Cope with Bullying. For more information on Stopping Gossip or activity ideas on how to teach these rules to kids, please check out Friendship & Other Weapons on this site or on amazon.com.