Don't get me wrong...

I adore my kid's little troop of buddies. i think they are smart and sweet and considerate of her ... and yet, at the same time when they're all together they're capable of forming into one of the brattiest, spoiled-est, snottiest, shallow-ist, most racist, manipulative groups of 8 year old terrors I've ever seen. my god! And I'm not saying these tiny people were formed in a vacuum. i mean, their parents are pips as well! Case in point at the brithday today, birthday girl wants to cut the cake. Mom says no, I'll cut it. Birthday girl begins to SCREAM "NO! I'm cutting it! No! I'm doing it!" Mother replies "O.K. alright, just make sure to cut it into smaller peices so everyone gets some... no, not like that, smaller than that, no, Honey, now see you're getting it all over [at this point instead of just taking the damn knife away she turns to her soon to be estranged husband, rolls her eyes and says "Far be it from me to be the cause of a melt-down!" Then throws her helpless little hands in the air and walks away leaving her daughter to serve pieces the size of Mt. Everest to about three children before hopping off her chair and running off to complete some freaking "art project" she had going on earlier.]

second case in point -- Child-who-I-cannot-stand is telling my child to stay away from another little girl because she has lice. I explain sternly to CWICS that she should stop being mean because she's had lice, Boo's had lice, we've all had lice and 1) it's no big deal and 2) it's not THAT contagious. Upon arriving home I get call from CWICS's mother demanding to know whether or not other child was announcing she has lice and chasing the children around and rubbing her hair on them (no!) which is ridiculous if you think about it because 1) how is that a fun child's game and 2) whatever! When I explain that no, in fact she wasn't but that I'd had a chat with her daughter about being mean she shot back "Well, she probably didn't think she was being mean, she was probably just scared, I mean I spent $3,000.00 getting rid of the infestation the last time and I really can't go through that again, I mean, seriously, if CWICS has been exposed again, I don't think I can let her in the house!" Nice. Sigh. God. When they were littler it was so much easier to tell myself that they weren't their parents/going to be a truly annoying influence on my kid -- and I know this is probably coming across as a big ole "Wah, I don't want those nasty, bad children sullying the pure perfection that is my child" but you know what??? I don't! I think they're a pretentious, spoiled, hypocritical bunch of upper middle classers and I actually would like my kid to grow up surrounded by folks who are a little less self-centered/a little more conversant with freaking empathy! Unfortunately the only places I seem to be able to find that kind of compassion are places where people have alot fewer life choices than I and my kids do and so I'm not so sure it's all rosy on that side of the track either.... Anyway. I'm in a bad mood. i'll stop now.