Friday, July 10, 2009

Reality At The Beach

Duck and I spent the afternoon today at the beach. There are two notable things about my Duck; one, she's friendly and social; two, as an only child she enjoys meeting new kids.

When we got to the beach it was full of kids of all ages. Duck waded into the water and surveyed the surroundings. She played and swam by herself for awhile and eventually wandered over to a gaggle of girls. I watched from the sidelines from behind my sunglasses.

She talked with the girls for several minutes and then turned and walked away, then spent several minutes digging in the sand by herself. When she returned up to my perch, we talked about several things and then I asked what the conversation with the girls had been about.

"Oh, I heard them planning on playing dolphins and I asked if I could play with them. Most of the girls said 'okay', but one said 'no'. So I walked away."

What's a mother to say? Duck didn't seem terribly upset by the event, but it must have felt awkward to be pushed away like that. So I just told her the truth.

"Well, my Duck. Sometimes public school kids aren't socialized very well."

She already knew that was true anyway. ;o)

4 comments:

Holly said...

Awww. hugs to you & your dd. We've experienced that before, too. Holly

Anonymous said...

I don't know if I would blame it on public school kids or just the fact that kids can be cruel in general.

I was a private school kid and remember being out casted before as well. Its tough, but she sounded like she handled it well.

Lori said...

Newlyweds, kids *can* be cruel in general. Which is a good reason not to let them be each others' *primary* form of socialization. Still, fun times at the beach when they're (standard-school children)all back in school! :)

Mrs. Parunak said...

Great story! It's wonderful that your Duck is so friendly. Sometimes I think homeschooled kids are friendlier than kids who are with peers all day because they're not dealing with rejection on a regular basis.