Emma came home from school today talking about her “best friend” Zia. She has had a new best friend almost every week since school started. I have taken that as a good sign. I am glad that she can be friends with all different kids.

She started talking about Zia’s birthday. She is having a birthday party. Emma said that she wasn’t invited. She said “Zia can only invite 17 people, and there is no room for me.” She seemed sad about it, but said that she would still want to invite Zia to her birthday. Emma has been talking about her party for months I have been trying to explain to her that she should tell people about her party, because we aren’t sure who we will invite 3 months from now. I keep trying to tell her that she could hurt some people’s feelings if she talks about it now and doesn’t invite them later. This was a perfect example of that happening. I tried to explain to her that how she was feeling now, was how other kids would feel if they didn’t get invited to her party later.

All of a sudden she burst out crying. She said that Zia is her best friend but there are 2 girls that are very mean to her. Apparently one of them told her she wasn’t her best friend, that she couldn’t come to her birthday, and that she couldn’t play with them. Another girl who has been one of Emma’s good friends, apparently went along with the mean girl.

I felt so sad for her when I heard her crying. I just wanted to hug her and make it all go away. I felt so bad to see my little girl hurting, and not really have any control over it. I remember all of these issues so well, but I wasn’t thinking they started in first grade.

I gave her a hug and tried to comfort her. I told her that there will always be some kids that aren’t nice. The important thing is for her to keep being nice, and to try to be friends with everyone. I know that Emma is a sweet and sensitive little girl. It just breaks my heart to hear that everyone is not that way to her.