First Day of School!

Sasha went back to preschool today and we were both SUPER excited! I am having alone time at the house again, thanks to Lyla's lingering morning nap (though I know I only have a few weeks left until she only takes an afternoon nap). I am literally writing this post in SILENCE (minus the barking of the brain dead dogs next door). Quiet like this is just priceless. I can think! I will appreciate these next few weeks and then I'll move directly into mourning the loss of Lyla's early nap as she transitions into one measly afternoon nap...

Back to the first day of school story... Sasha woke up super pumped to go back to school. She LOVES her teachers and she seems excited to see her friends from last year and meet new ones. At back to school night, we encountered a new problem that I was not in any way prepared for..."mean girls". Now, I realize these are only preschool girls and it can't be that bad, but Sasha was snubbed by two girls and it DEVASTATED her. Something went down on the playground that evening that really hurt her feelings.... I don't know if she just thinks that these two girls don't like her, or if they really said something mean to her, but she just really got her feeling hurt by the entire situation. She cried about it later that night and still couldn't get over it the next day. I tried to give her some good advice on how to deal with this stuff, but I don't know if I'm the best one to consult on these matters. My advice sounds something like this, "If these girls are rude to you, forget about them and be friends with other kids instead. Just ignore the ones who don't like you and play with the nice kids." In my life I usually go with the mantra that if you don't like me, that's your problem and you should go deal with it somewhere else. This idea works great in the adult world, because I don't have to be around those people on a daily basis, but I don't think it translates into the school scenario. In fact I'm sure it doesn't because I told Sasha all this and she said, "But I want THOSE girls to want to be friends with me". Let me just say that this statement was like a sword to a mothers heart! OUCH!!!!! I see my daughter as cute, funny, smart, charming and so LIKABLE and I just can't imagine someone being mean to her, so if and when it happens, I just don't know what I can do about it. Sadly, my thinking goes something like this: if you don't like Sasha, there is something super wrong with YOU. Since I'm her mother, I'm just gonna stick with that train of thought (because it is the truth).

Sad as it is, I imagine that this will be a constant theme in the life of a girl, it just hurts a lot more when that girl is your daughter. I am fairly certain that this thing with the preschool age mean girls will blow over and they will be sharing the playground slide soon, but it was an unfortunate reminder that every stage of my kids lives will bring a new set of problems that I will need to help them with. The hard work doesn't end with a drawer full of big girl panties and the extinction of diapers...it only just begins.

UPDATE: The first day went great, No DRAMA to speak of. Sasha was literally right next to the supposed trouble girl went I went to pick her up. They were on the slide together and Sasha had no sob stories to tell about it. Mini crisis averted!