Guest Author - Marci Ann Peterson

I rented the newest American Girl movie, “An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong,” for my girls who are 6 and 7. I am able to say that it was a great movie. Okay, so it may have been a little cheesy at parts and dramatic in a drama-queen kind of way but the message was great.

You can catch this movie on HBO on January 25th at 5:15 pm EST. If you don't get HBO I would recommend renting it so you and your kids can enjoy the movie.

The movie is about a young girl named Chrissa Maxwell who moves to Minnesota mid-year with her family. The family makes the move to help out her grandmother Nana on the llama farm, following the death of her grandfather.

She starts attending a new school and ends up being bullied by the “mean bees” of the school. The movie follows Chrissa as she tries to make friends and get the bullies to leave her alone. The movie is all about friends and being kind to each other.

In true Hollywood fashion Chrissa and her bullies become friends and they do a classroom project on bullies.

To help spread the word about bullies American Girl is hosting a “Stop the Bullying Day May 1” on their website. More information will be available on March 2, http://www.americangirl.com/girloftheyear/stbday.php.

Watching the movie gave me a chance to sit down and have an in depth conversation with my girls about bullies. We talked about bullies, why kids bully, why we shouldn't bully others, and what to do if they or someone they know is being bullied. This is a conversation I feel that every parent should have with their child. This was more than just a bullying is bad, don't bully, and you know you can tell me if your being bullied conversation. They had a lot of questions, comments , and even some pretty deep thoughts about bullying.

I recommend watch the movie together, talk about bullying with your kids, and then visit the American Girl site to get some ideas about how to stop bullying.