God save me from 9-year-old slumber parties...
Ya know, I really think that sometimes "parental awareness" is overrated.
Sure, I want to help my daughter avoid the pitfalls of hooking up with a crowd of future homicidal crack whores.
On the other hand, just getting to know the very "typical" school girls my daughters calls "friends" can be enough to keep me awake all hours of the night...and not just during the slumber party.
Tonight, I found myself wondering what kind of parenting these kids were getting. I wondered what kind of...god help me I'm going to use that word..."values" they were being raised with. At risk of being cliche - if I ever demonstrated the kind of selfishness, arrogance, cheekiness or disrespect in someone else's home, I can't imagine the kind of beating that would have awaited me at my house.
My husband commented when I discussed it with him, "These girls weren't that bad."
But that's my point - these girls are far from what today is considered "bad." As a matter of fact, they are actually above-average 9-year-old 3rd graders who do well in school and strive for some level of society-based success. (All of her friends are on student council or are trying out for...gulp...cheerleading.)
...and I don't like most of them very much.
I know that I'm worried that my daughter is still upset and disappointed that she was not also elected to student council - that she doesn't feel like she's "as good" as some of these other girls who are already giggling about boys and turning up their noses at what they perceive to be "unfashionable."
I've raised my daughter to be a compassionate, empathetic steward of the Earth...OK, so that's quite a bit to expect of a 9-year-old. She is, however, respectful, helpful and well-behaved to the extreme in school and in other people's homes. So, why is she attracted to shallow spoiled-rotten brats? Am I being too hard on them because it's just a pre-adolescent girl thing? Is it because I always hung out with the brainy geeks and musicians instead of the "prep" or "jock" crowds so I have no stomach for this aspect of school life? Is it because I went to Catholic school for 16-years and wasn't exposed to as many of the "pressures" as the kids are in public school?
The real question...can I survive being the mother of a girl in the "popular" crowd?
Yikes!
Sure, I want to help my daughter avoid the pitfalls of hooking up with a crowd of future homicidal crack whores.
On the other hand, just getting to know the very "typical" school girls my daughters calls "friends" can be enough to keep me awake all hours of the night...and not just during the slumber party.
Tonight, I found myself wondering what kind of parenting these kids were getting. I wondered what kind of...god help me I'm going to use that word..."values" they were being raised with. At risk of being cliche - if I ever demonstrated the kind of selfishness, arrogance, cheekiness or disrespect in someone else's home, I can't imagine the kind of beating that would have awaited me at my house.
My husband commented when I discussed it with him, "These girls weren't that bad."
But that's my point - these girls are far from what today is considered "bad." As a matter of fact, they are actually above-average 9-year-old 3rd graders who do well in school and strive for some level of society-based success. (All of her friends are on student council or are trying out for...gulp...cheerleading.)
...and I don't like most of them very much.
I know that I'm worried that my daughter is still upset and disappointed that she was not also elected to student council - that she doesn't feel like she's "as good" as some of these other girls who are already giggling about boys and turning up their noses at what they perceive to be "unfashionable."
I've raised my daughter to be a compassionate, empathetic steward of the Earth...OK, so that's quite a bit to expect of a 9-year-old. She is, however, respectful, helpful and well-behaved to the extreme in school and in other people's homes. So, why is she attracted to shallow spoiled-rotten brats? Am I being too hard on them because it's just a pre-adolescent girl thing? Is it because I always hung out with the brainy geeks and musicians instead of the "prep" or "jock" crowds so I have no stomach for this aspect of school life? Is it because I went to Catholic school for 16-years and wasn't exposed to as many of the "pressures" as the kids are in public school?
The real question...can I survive being the mother of a girl in the "popular" crowd?
Yikes!
posted by CelticDiva at 12:16 AM
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