Friends

Last year Mi'ita had a lot of trouble with friends. There was a group of girls she played with and sometimes they would all play nicely together and other days they would exclude one or another of them. The saga took many forms and I had many a tearful updates. There was one particular girl that held friendship over everyone else's heads. She had "meetings" that only some kids were allowed to attend. It went on and on until I finally told her she couldn't play with that girl any more. Boy was that popular, but it did ease the situation.

I wasn't sure what this year would bring. I was hoping that she would discover a homeschool girl her age and they would become fast friends and that would be the end of her friendship worries.

That hasn't happened. What has, though, has been interesting. She invites all the girls that she used to play with over, one at a time and not the one that she had so many problems with. Since there is no pressure to look cool in front of others, no one excludes her. Everyone has joyfully excepted her invitations. One girl comes over several times a week.

Outside school these little power struggles are rare. I suppose there are still triangles and clicks in the adult world but I have never come across them myself. I avoid drama like the plague and if I find myself in a situation like that I just find new friends.

When you aren't trapped in school, you don't find yourself trapped in situations like this.