There will always be mean kids at school and in the neighborhood. I think it's better to teach your daughter how to deal with them rather than encourage her to develop a "victim" mentality. If she was being threatened by a gang of kids or even one bigger child, she may have to enlist adult help. However, she is dealing with unkind behavior. At this level, she can begin to establish that she is not one to be messed with. Her attitude of confidence will help these kids stop picking on her; an attitude of helplessness, on the other hand, lets them know that she is indeed, the perfect victim. Help her by doing some role plays at home and offer suggestions that could work for responses. For instance, if she wants to play and they say she can't, she can answer something like, "Well if that's the way you feel, then I don't want to play with you anyway" and then march off in a huff. If they tease her, she can answer back as well - find out what they are saying to her and offer her some snarky replies - ask other kids for suggestions if you yourself don't know what works well. Teaching kids to stand up to meanies (and again, I don't mean life-threatening bullies here), is their best protection. When kids run to the teacher for help over fairly minor issues, they may be establishing themselves as tattle-tales and thereby further risking their social security.  Sarah Chana