Her friend makes fun of her being Jewish

DEAR AMY: I am in seventh grade. I am Jewish. I have a friend in the same grade. His locker is right next to mine. We have fun together, and he makes me laugh a lot, but he makes fun of me a lot, too. Sometimes he says that I'm fat, but most of the time he makes fun of me because I'm Jewish. For example, today we were goofing around, and a friend of his said, "What's going on?" and he said, "She was being Jewish." This really hurt my feelings. He has said that kind of stuff before, and I hate it when he does it. I have tried to get him to stop. Sometimes when I tell him to stop making fun of me, he says stuff like, "But you make fun of me, too." I don't make fun of him like that.

I told him I didn't like it when he made fun of me for being Jewish, and he stopped for about a day. My mom knows that he has made fun of my religion a few times, but I haven't told her that he does it almost every day. I would feel safe telling a teacher, but I'm afraid that if I do so I would lose him as a friend, and I don't want that to happen. We have almost all of our classes together. It might make things worse if I tell. But sometimes I want to cry when he makes fun of me. I don't know what to do.A Seventh-GraderDEAR SEVENTH-GRADER: There is a difference between having fun and "making fun of." Friends goof around and occasionally tease each other. But it's never OK to criticize someone's ethnicity or religion - even if you're joking.

That's not friendly teasing - that's bullying.

And if you're afraid to tell an adult because you think it might make things worse, then that's a sign that this kid is a bully-in-training.

You can say to him, "I want you to stop making fun of my religion. What you're doing is mean, and I don't think you're really a mean person, so I want you to stop." Give him another chance to change, then go to a teacher.