Ten Years Old

Maria is ten years old, so I imagine she'll be off to college soon! Ha! Kidding! She is still very much a little kid, with all little kid fun and problems, too.  Last night she was SUPREMELY sad about how she had no friends at school, no one liked her, etc. etc.  On Sunday at her Cheer party she won the Miss Spirit Stick award! Same girl! Same girl but one no one likes but also has the most spirit on the Cheer squad.

Oh it's awful to be ten, right? Even if you're Maria.  She puts a lot of her self worth into what other people think of her, which is a TERRIBLE idea, which I've told her over and over.  She wants to be friends with this popular girl in her class, because a friend of hers is also friends with this popular girl.  I think she feels like she is going to lose her friend to this popular girl and she is panicking and acting panicky, and freaking out every second of the day.  Last night I told her, look - you are going to school to GO TO SCHOOL and LEARN, not to freak out over this girl who I don't actually think is all that nice! Maria said, she's not! I said well then why would you want to be friends with her?  I mean, they are in a pretty small Catholic school.  What is the point?, I wonder 90 times a day.  What is the point of sending her to Catholic school if it's going to be so nasty and backbiting? Is there any benefit once they head toward middle school? I'm beginning to think the answer is no.

She is doing so well in school, she had straight A's for two quarters this year.  And it's really hard to get an A in their school, Veronica got a 93 in something and it was a B! We have the same scale at my school where I teach, so I'm familiar with it but man, it's still harsh, right? But Maria is doing so well, she narrated the Nativity Play at Christmas and did such a good job, she loves all the books they are reading, one was about a girl in WWII who hid and saved another girl and now they are reading Sarah, Plain and Tall.  She got a instamatic camera for her birthday and she loves it.  She is also in her own room, which she is really enjoying.

So I mean, except for the fact that no one likes her, she is doing great.  Just kidding, I really hope she is feeling happier about things today.  On to the next decade!