Grrrrrr

Girls are mean. Not certain girls. All girls. Yes, sadly, even mine, I'm afraid. I don't understand why girls can't just slug their friends if they aren't getting along. Instead they have to think of a way to be mean. Mean enough to hurt and then mean enough to make it fester for a while.

For instance...this morning Sleeping Beauty and Snow White were telling me about Ann (name is changed to protect the not-so-innocent) who used to be SB's "maybe 2nd or 3rd best friend way back in 3rd grade" (yes, that was just over a year ago, but who's counting?) now tells SW and SB all the time that they go to the "stupid school" now instead of the "cool school". Nice. Except really, if you are going to get technical, they now got to the "gifted and talented school" which isn't really the same as stupid, but in fifth grade language I guess they are pretty much the same thing. Oh, and Ann also thinks that SW's new glasses are boyish and that SB wears pink too much.

Now, I have always thought that Ann was a little bit of a stinker, but this is ridiculous. I must be part boy and part mama bear because what I'd really like to do is slug Ann. But, instead, I said, "What would Jesus do? Maybe she's having a hard time at home or at school. Try to be kind to Ann. Turn the other cheek. Find something nice to say about her or her school, and for goodness sake, just sit somewhere else on the bus!"

Then, there's Suzy (again, not her real name), who is a friend of the girls' that I happen to really like. Only lately, she's been telling Snow White that if she were auctioned off she would "only earn, like, maybe half a penny" and Sleeping Beauty would get "around a million dollars if we auctioned her" because SW isn't really worth that much. Nice thing to say to a friend, huh? But this is even better, "I'd try to explain to you why you wouldn't get that much money, but you wouldn't understand, cuz you're not smart enough." Snow White doesn't know why all of the sudden Suzy has decided to say these things, or at least claims to not understand. Since I know girls, it's probable that something could have been said by SW to warrant such treatment, but it's also just as probable that something did not. They're girls. Ugh.

So, I told SW to think about what has happened with Suzy the last coulple of weeks and see if there is anything she said or did that could have been taken wrong, or maybe Suzy has other things going on that are stressing her out and making her take it out on her friends. And then I said, "talk to Suzy and tell her how you feel and that you'd like her to stop saying those hurtful things. See if you can work it out." Although, what I really wanted to say was, "Just punch her in the face if she says things like that." Again with the mama bear thing. Sigh.

I can't remember how old kids are when this kind of stuff gets old. I hope soon. I cringe to think of other moms wanting to clobber my daughters because they said something mean like this. Yes, mine have been taught to never talk like this, and always be kind, but so have these other girls, I'm sure. I do trust my girls to be good, to rise above such things, but honestly, they're also just girls, too. Pre-teen girls with hormones raging and emotions out of control. I hope they are nice. I'm sure they are...most of the time. But, considering that last night SW told Cinderella that her glasses don't make her look smarter, they make her look "like and idiot", I can't be too sure.

I really don't think I'm cut out to be the mom of three teenage daughters. I think it's time for hibernation. A ten year one. Anyone care to join me?