Friday, August 02, 2013

Ups and downs

On the upside, I decided I was sick of pretty leather-like bags that rip to shreds after less than 12 months of use, then promptly found a really good fake Mulberry Alexa bag which I loved and bought, not caring whether it was real leather or not. I've always liked this style and it has lots of pockets and stands up when I put it down.

On the downside, TLM is apparently at that age when girls learn how to make friends and negotiate the whole alpha girl dynamic that you find in groups of girlfriends. She like to do what she wants, how she wants. Although there are at least 10 people she calls friends, she sometimes complains that she's lonely at lunchtime with no one to play with. We tell her that she should try going along with what the other girls want to play and maybe they'll play her games next time - but I've no idea how much she does this and whether it works. I do know that she does have fun wither her friends and classmates sometimes.

Then one day she will tell me she's lonely and just wants someone to play with her. We parents aren't suppose to try to 'fix' this problem for her, she's supposed to learn how to deal with it herself. But it makes me so sad because when I've felt lonely at times in my youth it was horribly depressing. I hate for her to be sad and lonely.

3 comments:

Amanda said...

It is difficult when they are negotiating that playground world and the whole volatile your my friend, your not my friend mean girl thing :( Last year DOTH was having such a difficult time with one of her friends we got called to get her from school a couple of times. We worked out eventually that she gets really bad stomach aches when she is stressed out and she just couldn't physically cope with all the drama this particular friendship was creating. This year has been much better. Nine year olds generally seem more mellow and better at friendship.

Anonymous said...

Oh poor TLM! I remember primary school being really cliquey and a bit bitchy too. It was all about who was going with who madonnas and mel and Kim. I think it gets better when you leave home?

Violet said...

Geez I hope with TLM it gets easier at 9 rather than having to wait till she leaves home!
I actually had a great time in primary school, and friend-wise it went a bit down hill from there until I was about 30! I wasn't one of the clique-y ones in case you're wondering...