social skills

I have been worried about Ladybug these last few weeks. I am not the most social person. I enjoy my alone time. I don't like parties. I know that Ladybug is not like that. So when I decided to let her go out and meet the neighborhood kids I thought it would be simple for her to make friends.

I live on a 1 block dead end street with only townhouses. There are a lot of kids. Four doors down from me is a family with 5 girls. And that is just one family. They are all elementary school age. They all go to her school. I am not sure if there are any that are in kindergarten or not but they are roughly the same age. So I threw her out the door and told her to go make friends.

But she didn't seem to make friends. They ignored her. Walked away from her. Walked around her. She said hi. She waved at them. She tried. But it didn't seem to work. She has been having all these issues at school too. So I began to wonder if she wasn't as social as I thought. Or, even worse, what if I had to teach her social skills? Talk about the blind leading the blind. For about 3 weeks I let her go out and play with the kids after she finishes her homework. And they just run away from her. Except for the one kid who asked if he could have her bike. Permanently.

Last night I was sick. I picked her up from the after school program and I was not looking forward to cooking dinner. Ladybug asked if we could go out for dinner at a fast food joint. No. Please Mama! It turns out it is fundraiser for her school. So I agreed.

We walked in and there was a chorus of kids who shouted out her name. Some were excited to see her. Some asked her to sit with them. Some hugged. She table hopped. She played in the jungle gym. She greeted kids who came in after her. She was social. She had friends. She had a good time.

So what does this all mean? It means I live on a street with a tight click who is unwilling to accept a new kid in. Exclusive. Snobby. Hateful. And my child just may be normal after all.

One worry gone.

Mean Mama