Heartbroken

I just walked into my daughter's room and tucked her in and stood over her for a moment to watch her sleep and lay in her bed holding her monkey. As I write this blog I'm stumped, I'm unsure of what to do as a parent. My little girl's heart is broken and me and Justin feel broken for her.

The transition into her new school has been difficult. First day was great, she loved every minute of it. Everyone wanted to know her and sit with her and play with her at recess. The next day it was just one girl that went back to her and that little girl is becoming a good friend to Emily but right now she is away and won't be back for a week. Even though the bullying started before her friend left it didn't feel as bad because she still had someone to play with. Now she is left standing alone on the side of the school wall.

Her friend Kassidy was friends with another girl who was a little on the mean side and when Emily came along Kassidy latched onto Em which was great. But jealousy took over the other little girl and she decided to let Emily know how she feels about her new friendship with "her" friend. She called Kassidy's house and left a rude message on her parents answering machine about how she hates her now that she is with Emily. She told all the girls at school that Emily stole Kassidy from her. It's so dumb.

There is a popular ring of grade 4 girls already. The ring leader could be compared to Rachel Witchburn on "Sydney White" Total little brat. If you aren't her friend she torments you and if you try sticking up to her she torments you. The other day Emily was standing alone watching the girls play and a girl said Emily help...what Emily didn't know is that one of the other girls names is Emily. Emily said sorry I don't know what you want me to do. They turned around and said they weren't talking to her and called her a "freak". Today the same little stinker approached Emily and asked if she new where another little girl was, Emily said no and she said I thought so because why would you know where she is when you stole her best friend, new girls should have NO FRIENDS!. Emily didn't say anything back, instead she just stood there all alone and just felt sick to her stomach. Emily talked to us about what's been going on today after school and told us that the same girl called her a "whore". But she didn't want to say anything because she is worried we are going to go back and tell the teacher and she doesn't want to be any more embarrassed than she already is.

I was waiting with Emily before school started and a different little girl comes up to her and says..."like why do you wear that same jacket like every day, i mean it's a cool jacket but like you wear it everyday". It then clicked why Emily was going through 3 or more outfits a morning before she knew what to wear. We sat her down and had a heart to heart to her about what is important in life and to our amazement this morning she was wearing her sweatpants and a bunnyhug and said I'm going to school like this, I don't care what they say, I feel comfy. Justin was so happy and said ok then can I come to school with you and we'll go comfy together and shock everyone. So Justin went in his reindeer pants and Emily in her sweatpants. I wish that feeling would have lasted forever for her but it didn't :(. Justin gave her his photo ID to carry around with her so that if she got to sad she had a piece of him with her. When we picked her up from school she still held the card in her hand.

I wish we could protect her and go to school with her every moment. I would really like to tell those kids where to go but that's not teaching Emily the right thing. We keep talking to Emily and helping boost her confidence in herself but it doesn't seem to be working. We are trying to tell her she's better than the kids and not to fight back and stoop to their level but when is enough ENOUGH!! Do we wait it out and hope it gets better. I've already gone in and talked to the teachers and they were so good about it and helpful and had some good ideas but I understand there is so much a teacher can do with so many kids. And these kids are smart and do it when the teacher is not around. Do we approach the parents and talk about it, do we let it ride itself out, do we switch schools to only encounter the same issue there or take the chance that it's not? I'm stuck, Justin's stuck. We know that we can't watch her go through this much longer. Our 9 yr old should not be in such a hurtful situation like this.

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