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Before I get started on my rant I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to Lin over at Duck and Wheel with String. Stop by today and wish her well.
Yesterday Buggy and I, along with my daughter and one of her friends, went to my neighborhood pool for the afternoon. We haven't been over there at all this summer since, until recently, I was working every day and then weekends seem to be crazy busy! The weather was beautiful and sunny and about 95 degrees. Perfect pool side weather. We packed a picnic lunch and headed over.
The pool wasn't terribly crowded, maybe 50 people. We snagged a table and spread out. Then we came to a hurdle, small but real, in our idyllic afternoon. Buggy is at the age where she takes her injuries quite seriously. She had several bandaids on her leg, one was actually a case of broken skin, the others were bug bites and what not, you know. That was a good 8 minute discussion during which she announced that she might "pass out" if we removed the bandaid from her cut. *sigh* Drama Queen did you mutter? I tired of the whole thing quickly and told her she could just sit at the table while we went in the pool. It resolved itself pretty quickly after we walked away. Anyway, I got a little side tracked, let me get back to my rant.
Buggy was sticking right with us since she had Grandmom, Aunt Chrissy and Ms. Sarah as playmates, who else did she need? After lunch we waded back in for a dip. Aunt Chrissy and Ms. Sarah were swimming laps at that point and Buggy's eyes began to wander around for new playmates. Not far away there were 3 little girls splashing around, ages were probably 4, 5 and maybe 7. Buggy paddled over and asked if she could play with them, the 4 yo said ok. She announced her name and asked what theirs were, no answer. They were all trailing along behind the oldest girl, the boss, the leader. They all turned around facing the pool and awaiting new direction from their leader who now realized that Buggy had joined "her" group! She began whispering with her followers. They all moved to a different area, Buggy followed. She whispered some more. The little witch moved her blind cohorts down the pool a bit.
At this point Buggy was looking a little uncomfortable but didn't exactly understand. I decided to swim nearby and give that little dictator the "MOM" eye figuring she would be immediately intimidated and act a little nicer. I swam over until I was about 8 feet away from the brat, she didn't even blink, in fact, the whispering intensified. I glanced around wondering if the woman who had spawned this bundle of evil was even nearby. Not a single adult was looking their way. I just wanted to get a look at her.
Buggy was getting a bad feeling at this point and asked me why they wouldn't talk to her. Just then a boy threw his ball too far and Buggy picked it up and threw it back. The kid had the good manners to thank her for returning his ball! I told Buggy that since she had been so nice all day that I thought we should go out for an ice cream. Off we went...so there you little meanies!
Where were their mothers and have they taught those children nothing??? Admittedly, I was far more troubled by this than Buggy was, thank goodness. Wouldn't you have been?
11 comments:
Seriously, whats up with the kids in your neighborhood? They are going to give Bug a complex. She just wants to be friends with everyone! Why are kids so mean??
It is so hard to be a parent sometimes. I know it's wrong to beat the crap out of a 7 year old, but sometimes I really have to control myself. I have a 7 year old, and some of the girls in her class come up with insults that would sting an adult. They are vicious. I feel bad for your little girl. But I'm glad that she didn't really understand what was going on. I remember a great saying from when I was in high shcool "Boys are dumb, and girls are evil." Still holds true today!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. It was a little bit ago and I just now realized that I had another comment. Thanks!
Kids are soooo mean, and it does NOT get any better. I deal with a bunch of lose little witches on a daily basis and you know me, have a really hard time not getting MY feelings hurt and saying things.
S
I honestly believe that mean kids are not getting enough love and encouragement from their parents. Keep up the good work with your own!
Mean girls, you find them everywhere. I am glad to hear that Bug wasn't bothered by it. My kids would have probably played with the boy since he seemed to be more open to friendship. Unfortunately, as she gets older, she will face more of it.
I love how Buggy was oblivious to those nasty kids, but as an adult, didn't you want to rip their eyeballs out??! I would have. Ugh. Find some friends for Buggy and bring them with next time. We went through this in our 'hood and a therapist once told me to forget the neighborhood kids and go search out the good kids. Driving for a good friend is better than living by the jerks. I've done that since. She deserves better than that and you have to teach her how to compensate for that situation.
Sorry that happened to both of you. :(
And hey, thanks for the birthday shout out!! I wondered where all those people came from!! :)
ah yes, as a mother it is very irritating. Kid definately have a mean streak in them. Having one of each, I found that the girls tend to be meaner than the boys. Boys like to rough house but girls can just get downright nasty and catty.
You know I raised girls and we went through the normal "she's not my friend anymore" stuff. I have to tell you that I would have knocked my kids into next week (ok, not literally) if I ever saw them acting that way. And trust me at the age of these little girls I would have been watching well enough to know if they were acting up.
She does have a good friend in the neighborhood but this was just some random kid. Arghhhh! I do feel better after venting to all of you. Thanks.
I can see the Mamma Bear coming out! You handled the whole situation very well, great thinking! I would've wanted to swim under the water and yank that girl down! LOL
I had this experience at the beach. My toddler wanted to play with older kids. While the other two boys just smiled the "leader" started slapping my son's hands when he touched the mound they were making. I got so mad I wanted to slap the kid. I settled with a good talking though. I could not just let that go without doing anything. Some parents I guess are not doing their jobs well. I don't know. It pisses me off even just thinking about that incident.
Sounds like the kids in my neighborhood, except they would have probably cussed you and Buggy instead of whispering. Unfortunately these days I think there are a lot of parents whose approach to parenting is forget the children exist until dinner. I know the ones around here have little to no supervision at all. They even let the 3 year olds ride their tricycles down the middle of the road with no one watching. The kids don't just run wild. They tend to act wild as well. It makes me feel sorry for their teachers.
Regardless, I gave you a blog award on my blog. Here is the link to it: http://www.justbloggled.com/2009/08/yay-i-got-another-blog-award.html. Congrats.
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