Chip off the old Block

I know I spend a lot of time whining about the tough moments of motherhood, but tonight was one of those nights that make it all worth while... At bed time, my 8 year old was feeling sad cause a couple kids were being mean to her (THE NERVE OF THOSE KIDS!) She seem to have some somatic symptoms (for all you non psych. oriented people out there she told me her tummy hurt which was really code for "I am sad and need to talk") So I tucked her in and snuggled beside her and told her about at time when my friends were mean to me. I told her that I was called a lot of mean names and it was very hard for me to go to school. The sweet little thing got all teary. It was one of those moments where I remembered she is still in the phase of thinking "my mom is perfect in every way and how could anyone have been mean to her!" (Or she was still sad about her own trials, but I will go with the former notion). We talked about why people are mean and how to react when that happens. We also talked about how to react when someone is being mean to someone else. She was totally on board with all my wisdom.

Then she started asking about diseases... You see she has a sweet friend at school that has a degenerative muscle disease. She also knows a boy with Down Syndrome. We talked about differences and how some people have physical or mental differences, but they can still be great friends. She was like "DUH MOM! They are both my friends and I KNOW that!" Geesh sooorrry Kid, I didn't realize you were so AWARE...It must be all that time she spends with her totally awesome mom :)