Dealing With It

A few days ago, I took the kids to the McDonalds play area just for something fun to do on JD's birthday. After a while, Karianna ran over to inform me that a boy was teasing her. She said he called her "nasty". Karianna proceeded to ask me if "nasty" was a bad word. :) We talked about it in quiet tones since this boy's mother was sitting right in front of me and I sent her back to play. Of course, Karianna ran back a few minutes later to tell me he was still calling her names. This happened 3 times when I finally gave her a very succint way of dealing with it: 1, ask the child to please stop calling you names; 2, move to a different area; and 3, come tell mom. I didn't know if Karianna was brave enough to try and follow through, so I was very proud of her when she marched right up to the boy in question and said, "PLEASE stop calling me names.". The boy stared at her for a minute, said "OK", and then thoroughly ignored her the rest of the time...which I suppose accomplished her purpose quite successfully.

I worry that when Karianna goes to Kindergarten in August that she is not going to know how to handle silly situations like this. She is such a sensitive little girl, and although she has a good, strong backbone, I worry that she'll get her feelings hurt. I hope that she has the confidence and integrity to stand up for what she knows is right. Maybe I'll take her to McDonalds on a weekly basis through summer just so she can practice this whole problem solving thing...