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Yesterday my daughter had a hard time in school. Her teacher wrote:<\/p>\n
“Not sure what was going on today. Came in and seemed a little off. Got very upset because Tania was absent today and for almost an hour she repeated “Where is Tania?” We talked at length about it and finally calmed her down. The rest of the day she cried on and off and would not participate in academic tasks. Repeatedly yelled that she wanted to go home. She was the bathroom monitor today and she started screaming in the bathroom that she wanted to go home. Such a contrast to yesterday so told her that we will definitely have a green tomorrow.”<\/i><\/p>\n
She had been talking the day before about wanting Tania to invite her to her house. Tania’s her best friend in school. Last year at the end of the year, I sent home a note with Tania for her mother telling her that we’d love to see Tania over the summer and take her to get ice cream or something and included ways to contact me, but I never got a response. Combine that with 2005’s birthday party disaster<\/a> and I don’t have high hopes for friendship outside of school with the other kids in her class. My daughter talks about seeing her cousins and playing hide and seek with them, and really wants to see them again. Unfortunately, they live in Raleigh so it’s tough to manage.<\/p>\n I think this is a need for my daughter that’s not being met, the desire to have friends outside of school. I don’t know what to do about this, though. My impression from casual research is that most of the ‘Mommy and Me’ type groups are for toddlers, so at this point I’m not sure where to find other kids her age for her to be with. And, of course, she’s got other challenges that make it hard for her to connect. But if she really wants to, then I want for her to have the opportunity to try.<\/p>\n I’m not the most extroverted person in the world, and I don’t have any friends who have kids her age. Also, I don’t think I’m like most of the stay-at-home moms who go to the playgroups, but I can definitely fake it if I have to for my child to get what she needs. I just am at a loss as to how to begin to handle this problem.<\/p>\n I knew any kid of mine would be introverted, I just didn’t anticipate all this. I guess nobody can really anticipate the challenges that parenthood brings, though.<\/p>\n The weather was clear and cool this morning, so I took a brisk two mile walk while listening to NPR’s “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me”<\/a> to lift my spirits, and I’m going to have a bowl of cereal and polish off the half of a raspberry mocha that I saved from last night. Then I’ll finish watching Orson Welles’ “Lady from Shanghai”<\/a> with the excellent commentary track that I didn’t get to finish yesterday. Getting to bed on time tonight will help, too. Letting my brain off the hook for a while may help me approach the situation from a new angle. And, as always, I’m open to suggestion. I hate thinking about this stuff sometimes, but a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do!<\/p>\n