Just Thinking Out Loud . . .

Disclaimer: I'm going out on a limb here because there are a plethora of my neighbors who read my blog... which stresses me out to the MAX!  So neighbors: please view this as a simple observation and not a passive/aggressive attack.

I know of girl in our neighborhood who likes to bully people. And not just people, but adults. 

She's eight.

I know what you're thinking "why would an adult let an eight year old bully her?" And my answer to that is simple: Because you're so freakin' surprised that a CHILD could act like a nasty adult that it leaves you speechless as you watch her saunter off into the sunset.

This child told my friend to get out of her chair because she wanted to sit there.  When my friend-- who coincidentally is one of the nicest people on the planet-- kindly told her No, this nasty little girl proceeded to try and bully her into giving her what she wanted.

She would return every minute or so and tell my friend "You're fat! Get out of my chair!"

This child's mother was not more than 20 feet away from her.

You're speechless, aren't you?

Yeah. Me too.

This little girl also likes to ring my door bell and when I answer she likes to tell me all the reasons she will not play with my daughter. Then she will stick her tongue out at me, turn around, stick her bum out and then shake her bon-bon like Charo. 

I may have yelled at her the last time she pulled that little stunt that if she ever did that again she just might find my foot up her rear and then we would "shake our bon-bon's" down to have a chat with her Mom. Or not.

The thing is this: I'm not the sharpest pencil in the stack, but I know basic child behavior and kids parrot what they hear their parents say and do.  Now, I'm not implying that this child's mother likes to shake her bon-bon like Charo doing the Cuchi-Cuchi dance, but what I am saying is that maybe this child is parroting variations of what she has heard at home.

In the book Queen Bees and Wannabes the author states very clearly that when there is a mean girl typically there is a mean mother behind that girl.

Think about the mean girls you know.  What are their mothers like? Granted, some have the kindest mothers on the block, but that is rare.  Usually where there is a mean girl, there is a mean mother. Truthfully, I've never understood that.  Why would a grown woman go out of their way to make a mean phone call, or say mean things to people? I have never understood that.

Also, people misinterpret being direct and forthcoming as being mean, and I totally disagree with that.

I say what I think, never meaning to hurt another persons feelings. I am just direct. Which always gets me in trouble because people think I'm being mean. When in reality I just want you to know what I am thinking so that there is none of that stupid-weird-game-playing-drama.  I tell you what I think. If I apologize I mean it and that is that.

But, I digress . . .

The bottom line is that I find this child's behavior incredibly troubling because if she is this aggressive and nasty at eight, what will she be like when she is sixteen and in the same Youth Group as my sensitive, kind Thing 3?

This nasty little girl will eat her alive, that's what.

And then the ugly Mama Bear will have to come out to play and it won't be pretty.

So the question of the day is: Would it do any good at all to tell the parents of this child how she behaves?

Or would I be beating a dead horse?

(So to speak)