WHY DO MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS GET SO MEAN?
Have you seen the video of what they did to the bus monitor?  Hey, Moebius moms and dads...has your child with Moebius been taunted by middle school kids?  Chances are he or she has...or will be in the future.  I remember that some of the nastiest stuff ever said or done to me, when I was a teen, was said/done to me when I was in middle school.  So why is this?  Why do some middle schoolers become such bullies?  One explanation:
"...When kids reach middle school, bullying becomes more common and more sophisticated, experts say.
“Middle school-age kids are sort of an age group that is notorious for an uptick in the intensity of bullying,” said Dr. Gail Saltz, a psychiatrist in New York and TODAY contributor.
During the middle school years, kids are facing intense peer pressure, the pack mentality is strong and kids feel a growing sense of independence - all while their moral compasses are still developing, she said.
“It’s a time when they’re figuring out who they are by sometimes crossing the line and breaking the rules,” Saltz says. “Their insecurity drives a lot of cliquishness and defining themselves as better by making someone else feel worse.”
Middle school is often the beginning of the “mean age,” and kids don’t always know when to stop themselves. “Their ability to assess going too far is not fully developed, so you do see a lot of potential bad bullying,” Saltz said.
Dr. Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist and Today contributor, said bad behavior can take place because young adolescents don’t always realize the consequences of their actions.
“Kids can be aggressive and mean at any age or any stage but when kids are younger, they haven’t fully developed perhaps their ability to understand the impact they have on others,” she said. “It’s more of a self-centered existence. It’s a hallmark of adolescence, an over-focus on the self.”
Peer life is essential to kids’ development, Ludwig said. “If kids feel they’re not being successful among their peers, there’s a sense of sadness and isolation, so they could act out or be victimized,” she said.
For some kids, showing power and control makes them feel better, Ludwig says.
“Sometimes when acting out in anger, it’s to offset depression or anxiety and in other cases it’s kids who have been bullied, so it’s ‘go after the person that’s least likely to retaliate - go after the weakest link,’” Ludwig said.
Kids can also be aggressive and bully others to establish their place of power in their group, Ludwig says. “You’re making a name for yourself,” she said. “You’re sending the message, ‘Don’t mess with me.’”

MOEBIUS SYNDROME IN THE NEWS
And on a happier note--guess who will be one of those carrying the torch bearing the Olympic flame, and the London Games approach this summer?  None other than UK Moebius hero Jack Marshall:
"Inspirational Belton teenager Jack Marshall has also been selected to carry the torch as it wends its way around Doncaster.
Jack has Moebius Syndrome, a rare condition which has left him blind in one eye, hearing loss in both ears and severely disabled with problems in his hips, knees and feet and has undergone numerous operations on his legs, eyes, ears and mouth. However, he has raised £20,000 for charity on a number of sponsored runs and amazed doctors with his determination."


“So what will define greatness for your generation? I believe it is to use the knowledge that you have earned here to find ways, not only to connect to computers, but to connect to people; not only to bridge gaps in science, but to bridge gaps between cultures; not only to use numbers and formulas to create, but to use words to lead, and in the process, to close that canyon between ignorance and understanding.”--Carly Fiorina (born 1954)