A Mother's Pride

Kylie made me cry yesterday. Cry in a really good way. Since the beginning of the school year, she's been telling me about a girl in her homeroom that failed 5th grade last year. Kylie describes this girl as one that is lacking a few social skills and one that struggles in school both academically and socially. Kids are mean to her. Very mean.

A few weeks ago, this little girl made the mistake of expressing her affection for a boy in their homeroom. The kids made a mockery of her - telling her that this boy liked her and wanted to kiss her on the playground... she went to meet him at the "secret place" only to be ridiculed by several kids. Kylie was steaming mad that afternoon when I picked her up.

This boy was teased by his friends because this little girl liked him, so his defense mechanism to that was to get ever more mean to her. Kylie said the girl tried to talk to him at lunch and he put his lunch box between them and said, "I don't speak beast." Of late, this little girl will walk with her lunch in hand looking for an empty seat and most will tell her all the seats around them are saved for somebody else.

Yesterday my daughter decided to be more brave than I ever would have at 10-years-old and did something about it. She saved a seat right next to her for this little girl. When one of her best buds asked if the seat next to Kylie was for her, Kylie responded by saying, "No, this seat is for *****" Kylie said the look on this little girls face when she told her she'd saved a seat for her was worth the strange looks she got from her friends when she said she'd saved the seat.

I am so proud of her. I don't think I would have been that bold at her age. I know I wouldn't have. I might not be the one making fun of this kid directly, but I certainly would have done nothing to stop it. I warned Kylie that some of her friends might start picking on her because of her actions. She says she doesn't care, she knows what she did was the right thing and she planned to do it again today.

I'm so proud of my little girl.