Having gone to a religious all-girls school until high school, I can attest to the fact that kids are mean, and girls are meaner. They were especially mean to a child who was viewed as different because her parents got divorced when you didn't have rates of marriage dissolution at 60% of the population. I was that person who was taller than the rest, more shy than the rest and more intelligent than most, and I had trouble developing a thick skin until later in life, at Barnard College, when I realized that I was actually one of the cool kids.
I just don't remember it starting so early...
When I have said "no" to Raphaela or she doesn't agree with a statement I have made, she will pucker up her lips, squint her eyes and say, "I am not your friend anymore." To which I reply calmly, "OK, I am still your Mommy and I will always love you."
This morning, running late and Raphaela refused to get dressed and I started to lose my temper, Raphaela said, "I want a new Mommy." And then she clarified, "I want Thea's Mommy [her current BFF] to be my Mommy instead." Again, I ignored the statement and said, "OK, time to get dressed and go to Gan."
When we arrived at Gan, several of the children were sitting at a table and sharing the various snacks their parents had sent with them in the morning. They chanted at another girl, "You don't get any snacks from us and you don't get any candies." For some reason there was no teacher in the room at that moment, and the girl who had been left out and taunted started welling up with tears; at that point out of pity perhaps, or compassion, one of the children at the table got up and gave her a corn flake.
Yes, kids are mean, and I hope that Raphaela learns to deal with it sooner than I did.
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