February 29, 2008
The Mean Girls
Yesterday afternoon, Dawson and I headed to the public library in town. What used to be a weekly occurrence has now become an every-other-day-thing. Dawson loves the children’s department because they have two train tables with his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine toys. I enjoy the time to read quietly while Dawson is occupied.
On this particular visit I was caught up in observing others. Okay, I’ll be honest, I was people watching. Mostly because I like to see how other parents interact with their kids be nosy.
There were two little girls making plastic french toast in the play house, while their grandmother caught up on Midwest Living back issues. Every so often, Grandma would ask the girls to bring her another pretend cup of coffee. It was so cute.
The oldest girl was probably 7 years old, and her sister looked about Dawson’s age. The older girl had long brown hair and wore glasses, that she pushed up her nose every so often. Her smile was contagious, as well as her upbeat attitude, and I smiled when she came over to me and said hello.
“Hi! I’m Rena! That’s my sister Angela!” she said.
“Hi Rena, I’m Dana. It’s nice to meet you!” I replied.
“What’s your little boy’s name?” she asked.
“That’s Dawson. He loves trains.” I said.
With that, Rena went over to Dawson and introduced herself. My little bug is still kind of afraid of girls, so he started to blush and then went back to his trains. It was adorable.
After we had been at the library about twenty minutes, another mom came in with her daughter and the daughter’s friend. The two girls were most likely 7 or 8 years old as well. These girls went over to play with the doll house and I watched as Rena went over to say hello to her potential new friends.
“Hi! I’m Rena! What’s your name?” she asked.
“I’m Hayley,” said the first girl.
“I’m Karissa,” said the second.
I watched intently as Rena tried to befriend these two girls. She asked to play with the dolls, too, and the new girls reluctantly agreed. After a few minutes, Rena’s grandmother said it was time to go. After Rena and her family disappeared into the elevator, I listened to what Hayley and Karissa were saying to each other.
“I don’t like that girl, do you?” asked Hayley.
“No. She’s weird. I don’t like her either,” Karissa replied.
I was stunned. Those two little brats! What a rude thing to say. When did little girls become so gosh darned mean?
“Why don’t you like her?” I asked the girls.
They looked surprised that I was speaking to them.
“Uh…we don’t know her. She’s different.” said Hayley.
“Well,” I began. “Being different, and being yourself, is a wonderful quality. If every little girl was the same as you, this world would be very boring, and not very friendly, now would it?”
Both girls shook their heads and went off to play with something else. I don’t know what compelled me to speak up. Maybe it’s because I saw a little bit of myself in Rena. I was always teased for not being like everyone else.
Kids can be cruel to those they think are different, simply because they are too afraid of what others think. Rena didn’t care what anyone thought, she wasn’t afraid to be who she was. Rena, where ever you are, keep being your beautiful self. It truly was nice to meet such a sweet girl like you.
