Dear Mothers of Girls,
Please stop standing by and allowing your daughters to behave like little bully b*tches to every child that isn't their 'best friend' - whatever the eff that means to a 3-year old, anyway. You are teaching them NOTHING by a) pretending not to notice, b) laughing off, or c) ignoring their selfish, conniving, snooty behavior. You are, in fact, promoting their inborn egocentric world view and creating little diva monsters incapable of serving any purpose in the real world but to 'look cute' and make everyone else miserable.
Of course, I do not expect you to force your kid to play with mine. Of course, I do not expect you to intervene on every single altercation that arises on the proverbial playground. I just expect the same thing of you that you would expect of me if my big, brawny, imposing, in-your-face boy was screaming at your daughter five inches from her face to "GO AWAY!!! YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND...I AM NOT TALKING TO YOUUUUUUU BECAUSE YOU ARE UGLY!!!!!!"
See, that sucks doesn't it? You'd want it addressed, wouldn't you?
I'm sure I don't need to tell you that girls do it differently. They're more sneaky about it. They turn on their heel and say things under their breath. They convince their mommies that it was the yucky boy being mean to them first. Stop believing them, moms. Start paying closer attention. This is bullying. It looks different, but that doesn't make it any less WRONG or HURTFUL or IN NEED OF CORRECTION.
Stepping down now. Thanks for reading.
EHC
P.S. I realize that much of this letter is full of generalization and stereotype. Of course, I recognize that there are exceptions to those...I'm just coming hot off the playground and wanted to tap the beginnings of my thoughts on this out as soon as I got home. Also, no need to remind me that "I'll understand once I have a daughter of my own"....I have empathy, common sense, and intelligence enough to see the other side just fine.
