Ended Friendships, Bullying Beginings

Recently, Girl Child befriended some kids in my mom’s neighborhood that had a reputation for being, well, brats. They were destructive to other people’s property, rude to people, just general, all round jerks. It seemed as if they could sense that she was a pure soul, a kid who really wasn’t into all of that. So they decided to start unnecessary drama with her. They would send her messages talking trying to bait her, asking if she thought so and so was annoying, if she liked this person or that. She warned them that I checked her Facebook on the regular, but that didn’t seem to make a difference to them.

So, I told her I didn’t want her to be friends with them any longer because 1) I didn’t want her to be guilty by association and 2) that’s not a friend. Girl Child is on Student Council. She’s a member of the G.R.A.C.E club (that’s something about helping to teach young ladies etiquette). She’s part of the science club. She’s a straight A student. She works in the office for one of her classes. She’s a good kid. So no, I’m not going to let what she works hard for get tarnished by kids who don’t behave.

Rather than take it in stride, one of the girls took a route less favorable. She started to lash out at Girl Child and, by proxy alone, Boy Child. She started trying fight Girl Child. She’s taken to throwing rocks at Girl Child. She calls Girl Child names. It’s beyond ridiculous.

The other day, Girl Child was spending the night with my Mom. They had to run an errand and Girl Child was with them. The little girl who was not happy with Girl Child ending the friendship went walking by and started glaring at her. So, I loudly, in my own way, informed the little girl that she needed to keep her hands, words and any other objects to herself and away from my kid.

Having had a couple of days to reflect, I find myself wondering why she had such a visceral reaction to Girl Child ending their friendship. Is there problems at home? Is it something deeper? So what I’m going to do is have Gild Child invite this little girl over Saturday and we are going to sit outside and talk. I’m going to try to get to the bottom of why she reacted the way she did and see if there is anything that can be done to help.

So stay tuned. In the meantime, how would you have handled this?