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It's a right of passage.

Best kid fight I saw was in 6th grade. It went on for a good half hour. Multiple forehead knots, bloody lips and bloody noses. Two guys toe to toe till it ended in a standing draw.

Best girlfight was in the 7tth grade. Started in the girlsroom and spilled out into the hall. Black eye suffered by one of the combatants. Both were attractive, popular girls fighting over a boy. Lucky guy.

My only kid fight was in the 7th grade. Took one punch to the mouth and returned favor to the guys nose. Ended up in head-locks on the pavement.

Confine adolescents in a public center of learning with a natural instinct to compete and this is just a necessary bi-product of the maturing process.

I know that this period of time was the most miserable during my daughter's entire life. She was tall for her age and developed early - she bore the brunt of many unkind words for nothing more than how she looked - how God made her. For a while she came home almost every day and begged me to put her in private school. I almost did, but I asked her to stick it out through the first part of the year and see if she couldn't find a friend or two. I supported her here at home and was involved in her activities at school and alerted the school as to what was going on. She didn't eat in the school cafeteria from 5th - 8th grade because they would throw food at her. One of her teachers allowed her and some friends to eat in her classroom - which usually was not allowed. She focused on her academics and found for friends other girls who did the same.

Today she is prettier than most models, gets told all the time that she looks like Grace Kelly. It was very hard for her then, but she found some friends and they are, to this day, still the closest of friends. She has developed a strong sense of right and wrong and empathy for others who find themselves in the same sitation she had to overcome. I hated to see her so hurt, but sometimes when we don't allow our kids to overcome adversity, we rob them of an opportunity to grow.

Most of the girls (there were some boys) who were so mean to her did not go to college or dropped out if they did. A couple of the girls got pregnant and dropped out of high school. One of the girls came to her after they were in high school and apologized for her behavior. They are friends today.

Amanda's in the top 3% of university students and about to graduate with honors from Texas A&M. She will be headed to one of the best graduate degree program in the fall. She has blossomed into an accomplished and beautiful young woman. I am blessed beyond measure.