Have I written here before about the effect Eve has on her friends and classmates? She has a magnetism that draws all to her and since they are in kindergarten and haven’t quite figured out sharing, turn taking, and social status, they all fight over her! Seriously. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Children crying to sit next to Eve. Grabbing her arms, arguing over who gets to be near her. It’s weird. I witnessed it a few times in school and asked her teacher awhile back if this is normal behavior or if it only happens when I’m around. She said it happens pretty regularly. Eve says she doesn’t like it and we’ve talked about ways she can be firm and tell people to let go of her arm and walk away. But these are her friends and she wants to sit with them all so it leaves her in an odd situation. I don’t think it really bothers her much though, because she never tells me about it unprompted and when she does talk about it she does so with humor in her voice.
Her teacher told me a few days ago that a bunch of them were crying at lunch over who gets to sit by her (which is just kindergarten nonsense because her whole class practically fits at one table so it’s not like anyone is very far from her!) and the teachers ended up doing assigned seating at lunch for a few days! That was the consequence for the silly arguing. Eve didn’t mention it until I asked her though. When I asked who she was assigned to sit next to, it turns out it was none of the crying kids. She’s so sweet and everyone is her friend so she was perfectly happy sitting next to the kids she was assigned to sit by.
It will be interesting watching her grow up. One of the most amazing parts of parenting is just watching them become people. Watching how they grow: physically, emotionally, and socially. I’m lucky to have two such different, yet equally strong and confident kids to keep me company in life. :)
