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Can bullying be prevented with Mini Frappuccinos? I guess it’s worth a shot.
At one of her daily morning trips to Starbucks, author and parenting expert Michelle Icard encountered something that will strike fear into the heart of any average-looking girl who’s survived high school — a trio of popular, pretty girls making mean comments about one of their classmates.
“They were so loud and I was crawling out of my skin — I was so physically bothered by what they were saying,” she later told People. “I kept thinking, ‘This is going to stop, one of them will say something to redeem themselves,’ but it never happened.”
Icard ended up leaving the Starbucks and posting to Facebook about the experience, but then a friend suggested she go back and try to teach the girls a life lesson by buying them another round of coffee and giving them a gentle note about their behavior.
“You three are obviously pretty and hard-working,” she wrote. “I wish your kindness matched your pretty exteriors. I heard you talk about a girl who sang a song about being lonely in the talent show – and you laughed. About a girl who couldn’t be lead singer because you got all the votes, about crappy presents other people have given you…and you sounded so mean and petty.
“You are smart and you are pretty. It would take nothing from you to also be kind.”
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Her post went viral and is getting national press attention as a lot of people praise her for speaking up (along with a few people who think she should have minded her own business).
As someone who has encountered plenty of “mean girls” growing up, I’m trying not to assume that these girls just laughed at Icard instead and drank their free Frappuccinos without a second thought — especially since she went out of her way to call them pretty, which may be all they care about at the moment.
But who knows, maybe by showing these girls the kindness they refused to show for others, she could shame them into changing their ways.
