Artichokes and Broken Hearts

... and so it begins.

Bridget came home from school today talking about how a girl in her class was being really mean to her. She said that she's one of those bossy kids who is sort of a ring leader. It turns out that this little girl decided to tell all of the other girls in her class not to be friends with Bridget. Bridget said that this girl would tell the other girls not to sit next to her or to talk to her and then they would whisper to each other and then look at Bridget and giggle. Bridget was bothered by it but not super upset. I guess it helped that her best friend is in a different class and she was able to play with her during recess.

I was actually proud of how she was handling it. There are only nine girls in her class and all but two of them were being mean. So, after school today we headed to the library to plan her little Valentine's Day Party that she is throwing this weekend. We wanted to make it the most fun party ever! (Bridget is a planner so all of the planning helped lift her spirits.) We sifted through party books and came up with some great ideas. We also found a quiz in the American Girl magazine on how to deal with bully's, which was perfect for her.

We've actually been planning this party for a while and we are only inviting three girls to come over since we are limited in space. We were originally planning on sending the invitations through the mail so that we wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings. I hate to admit it, but once I heard what was going on, my plans changed. We got the cutest little invitations for Bridget to hand out AT school in front of the little girls who were being mean to her. She was going to give them to the two girls who were not following the evil plan of the bully. I'm not really sure if that was the right way to handle the situation but it sure felt good.

I explained to Bridget that she shouldn't be mean to the other girls but if they were to ask her why they weren't invited she can be honest and tell them that they hurt her feelings yesterday and she wanted to invite the girls who were being nice.

So, tonight we cooked an artichoke (which Bridget loves), sat at the table and wrote our invitations out while she watched her favorite show, John and Kate Plus Eight. For Bridget it turned out to be the perfect ending to a not so great day.