Madi had one of her hardest days here so far. She woke up late and was running behind. Made it out the door on time, but was in quite a rush.
School was difficult today. She got a lap for talking in Leap. All the leap kids earned one and I had asked the teacher earlier how Madi was doing. She simply said that she was a chatty kathy today and that she was talking nonstop. Madi told me that she didn't talk as much as other kids and that she was only talking a little. Hm.
Then she got two more laps at lunch because she was supposed to be standing silently and instead chose to tattle on another student to a teacher. She wanted the teacher to know that a student had gone to the front of the line. She told me she was mad because she got laps for telling a teacher. I told her that she knows the rule about being silent in the halls/line and that it doesn't matter who she was talking to - the point was that she was talking at all.
So she walked the three laps at recess. Her good friends - Annaliese and Riley - were playing a game with a bunch of people. When Madi finished her laps, she asked to join the game, but teams were already formed and none of her friends would let her play. And none of them left the game to make sure she had someone to play with. There were plenty of other kids doing other things, but Madi didn't want to ask them to play because they never play together. She wanted to be with her friends. So until the last few minutes of recess, Madi chose to be by herself. Riley and another girl Gracie came over at the end to tell her that they were sorry she couldn't play with them, but that they were already in the middle of the game.
I used this as an opportunity to ask her how her friends made her feel. And to think about the kinds of friends she is making. If she can't play with one of these three girls or if the girls are in their moods, then she has noone else. She told me that they have decided that they don't like a girl named Gracie (who earlier today was a girl she wanted to play with). So I asked "Are we playing an 'I love you today, I hate you tomorrow thing because that's not ok. We treat others the way we want to be treated. You don't turn on your friends. And if you do or they turn on you, you need to evaluate the kinds of kids you're choosing to be your friend.'" Wasn't an easy conversation as she's sensitive to it, really likes her friends and yet I think she knows they're not the best kind she could have. One of them is fine - usually very nice. But sometimes gets tired of Madi bossing her so she walks away. One of them we have a rule that she can play with her at school, but there is no outside interaction at our home or hers. And the other friend is extremely moody and you never know if she'll like you or turn on you.
Madi got home and I had piano students. She did a section of IXL. Actually started one section and was struggling with it a lot even though she said they'd been working on it for a while at school. She got up 91%, got one answer wrong and gave up. I told her that sometimes bad things happen or are caused by us and that life is tough. That you have to learn to overcome tough things. And that she's used to things coming easy and when she has to work, she has to learn to push forward and not give up so easy. Unless it's super easy for her, she gets very frustrated and quits and cries. Haven't had this happen in a while - like months. She had some writing homework and Fasttmath and something else I think... a worksheet or something.
Anyway tomorrow will probably be better. And the weekend will definitely help.
So a rough day.
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