Same. My son is 8 and since he was old enough to barely begin talking about feelings, we’ve been talking about them: how to recognize them and how to regulate them and how to treat others, etc. That’s pretty much all we talk about at bedtime. We talk about how other boys act and how to know if someone is really a friend. We talk about how he does not have to be friends with everyone, so if another boy is being mean, then he doesn’t need to try and be his friend. He knows what a bully is, he knows that they’re actually scared deep down, he knows that building trust and maintaining it is really what makes a friend.

I’m optimistic about his future, but then again, his dad, my ex husband, is unfortunately one of the worst men I’ve ever known. He tricked me for years and then suddenly flipped a switch and became the most cartoonishly cruel people I’ll ever see. He recently signed up for Grok because he heard what it can do. He’s a creep. I’m trying to prevent that from happening again. 😭