Today Braden and I picked her up from school and she promptly told us about how she got to play on the playground - her favorite activity in the world. We asked her what she did on the playground and she said, "Mary Jane said 'I'm not your friend.' Then I was sad and went..." and she mad a very sad face. Um, what?! How can a three-year-old say that? It just about broke my heart. What do I do? I wanted to go back there and ask the teachers if they knew there was a mean girl in their class. I want to look up that girl's phone number and talk to her mother about what kinds of things she is teaching her daughter and needs to teach her to be kind. I want to protect my daughter from the sting of mean girls. Realistically, I know this will not be the last time someone is mean to her. It breaks my heart that she is being forced to learn that some people aren't very nice at such a young age. We asked her what she did when this little girl wasn't very nice and she just answered that she was sad and made another sad face. How I wish I could shield her from these hurts. I know she isn't perfect and I'm sure that sometimes she hurts other kids' feelings too, but "I'm not your friend"? Ouch.
We went and played on a playground with some friends this evening. I think that helped end the day on a good note. Hopefully she won't dwell too much on this mean girl (because all mothers know that I am dwelling on it enough for the both of us!). But mostly, I hope that she can learn that it is important to be nice to everybody, even the mean girls (but maybe stay away from the mean girls if being nice isn't working).
