I had the best conversation with one of Emily’s new friends last night. By best, I mean, she came up to me, offered a hug and we chatted just a bit while Emily was finishing up her volleyball practice. I had never chatted with this girl before and thought she was very sweet and outgoing and loved that she would interact with me.
Em started middle school this year which means there are a whole bunch of new kids I don’t know. Emily has made new friends and to this point I have only met them in passing. I’ve been contemplating how to change that because I want to know who she is spending her time with. We’ve just been so busy, there hasn’t been a lot of time to work that out.
So, the opportunity presented itself to interact with her new friend. It turns out she lives in our neighborhood just a few houses away in the culdisac near our house. She mentioned that she had nearly come by one day, so I invited her to come over whenever she wanted. I did let her know that she might want to call first because we are rarely home. Then we chatted a bit more, just small talk. Wherever the natural flow of conversation between a middle schooler and an adult would lead.
So, I was feeling pretty good about this. I was very happy that I had gotten to actually chat for a second with one of Em’s new friends. Em finished up her game. Another girl joins them to laugh and giggle and hug and off we go. That is when I found out it is apparently not cool to talk to your middle school daughter’s peeps and both my girls knew it.
They laughed and giggled and poked fun at me all the way to the car for talking to her. Everything I relayed that we had talked about was met with, “No you didn’t? Why did you say that? Hahaha!”. Really? I just asked her if she had any brother’s and sisters. I just offered my hospitality.
Well, at least they had enough pity on me to laugh at me and not glare and turn their noses up. At least I was somewhat cool enough that they walked and talked with me as we headed down the hall and out the door. At least I got a little glimpse into the personality of her new friends.
If you have that book on middle school parent etiquette, could I please borrow it?
Whatcha Thinkin'? 