London does not understand 'personal space.' She loves everyone, has SO much energy and expects everyone to love her back while leaping and bounding around like a wild tornadic frog. I have SO given birth to myself with London.
And that's why it hurts so much to watch.
It's like reliving it all over again. It's like hitting the rewind button everyday and seeing everything that YOU did as a kid. Only I feel her pain for real.
She had her first boyfriend this school year. This boy came out of no where and liked her. He swooped in, made her smile, made her realize she WAS likeable and for a few months - London was a completely different person. She was happy. She was calm. She listened to the words of songs and smiled mysteriously,....... as if she understood something secretive.
Then he broke up with her. And started calling her 'no chin.'
At first London didn't get it. I did. (See,... London has a small chin.) but then she started to realize. But apparently when London turned sideways,...... her chin didn't measure up to how normal chins were supposed to measure. So this boy started a rude, mean nickname about her. And then others joined in, and soon many people were calling her 'no chin.' Jerk.
The boy broke up with London in December, and appropriately - Taylor Swift's song, 'December' came out at the same time. I would catch London laying on her bed, ...... quietly,.... just listening to the words.
And then she started coming out of her slump. But she still was having girl 'group' problems. When I would try to talk to her about it - she would get mad and tell me it was ok. She would say that she didn't care that she was weird. Could care LESS that she was crazy. She said that she was used to it.
It is so hard to stand back and watch hurt.
It just...... hurts.
After weeks of hearing London say she wanted to switch teams at school (all the 6th graders are divided into teams named after ivy league colleges,) I finally emailed her assistant principal to see how to go about this. I really didn't WANT her to switch teams mid-year, but I still needed his opinion. I simply let him know she was having problems meeting and keeping friends right now.
He emailed me back and let me know he also did not think it was a good idea. He suggested talking with the counselor at school (who had just purchased new materials about how girls can get along better) and how the counselor could really help. (I had suggested talking with the counselor to London and Geoff, but NO,...... this was quickly rejected.)
Then,.... the most amazing thing happened. The assistant principal sought London out at lunch, went up to her, walked with her while she bought her lunch and then led her to a group of girls to eat with. (Because London buys her lunch, she is not allowed to eat with the 'bringers.' These are the kids who BRING their lunches to school. Apparently the BRINGERS and the BUYERS are not supposed to intermingle.) Hmmmmm....... I guess this is a really BAD thing.
But the assistant principal asked London who she would like to eat with and then led her to them and allowed this inter-lunchable union.
After this, one of the girls who has been VERY mean and rude to London came up to her and apologized for being so mean and said she would very much like it if London would eat with them in the future.
What the.....?
And at recess, London said everyone was SO nice to her and that no one teased her. Even her old boyfriend was aware of the assistant principal talking to her and seemed to be watching.....
In my opinion, everyone was freaking because they KNEW they were doing wrong and were now scared out of their pants of getting into trouble.
But she came home from school and was leaping around the family room and yelling about how she had the "awesome-most" day in the world!!
This enchanting and magical behavior from the kids at school lasted for the rest of the week.
Today, it is STILL going well.
All because one assistant principal cared enough to check on my child and step in.
Mr. Cooper - you are my hero.
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