Mean Girls (the early years)

I wrote a few weeks ago about how kids satrt noticing what other kids wear around age 2, after The Dictator wanted a Dora Knapsack like all the other kids in her music class.

Today, I realized that girls become mean at age four.

That's right. Four.

How do I know this? Because today, hanging out at the Club, in Scottsdale Arizona, where I'm hanging with The Dictator, I saw Mean Girls (the early years) in action.

Kayla was about 5 years old. She had long beautiful brown hair and brown eyes. She was hanging at the kiddy pool with her friend, Meagan, who was about four years old. Meagan was, as the fiance says, "a piece of work."

I would describe her as a spoiled brat, but she was also very pretty and very outgoing. And then there was The Dictator, two years old. For some reason, 5 year-old Kayla took a liking to The Dictator and said, "I'm going to play with you now." To which The Dictator said, "Yah!" Then they jumped around and Kayla gave her a ride on her back in the pool.

Well, this just put Meagan in a foul mood. "You can't be friends with her and me," said Meagan. Then Meagan turned to The Dictator and said, "Who do you want to be friends with? Me or her?" pointing at herself and Kayla. To which The Dictator responded, "Yah!"

She respnded "Yah!" because The Dicatator is too young - thank god! - to understand the politics of girl friendships and had no idea what Meagan was saying.

Meanwhile, the mothers were tanning and gossiping and relaxing. Which I didn't have a problem with, because I was trying to do the same thing. However, if I was at a pool and it was my daughter saying, "You have to pick which one you want to be friends with," I would have at least said something like, "You can all be friends," or broken out into song like, "What the world needs now, is love sweet love."

I mean, if girls these days are mean at age 4 and 5, what does that say about what they're going to be like when they're 13?

On the one hand, I was happy that The Dictator held her own and continued playing with them, but on the other hand, I was like, "I'm not sure if I want The Dictator hanging around such girls."

Or maybe I'm just overreacting. I know that BFF stands for Best Friends Forever. And I also know that when I ask The Dictator who her best friend is, she always says, "Water is my best friend."

I know that "water" will not always be her best friend and that one day, sooner than I want, she'll be making and breaking friendships in less than five minutes. Sigh.