The Value of Friendship

  I have a 9 year old daughter and I am feeling a little of what my mother always says, "You will know what I am talking about.  How it feels to see your child hurting affects you too no matter what age they are."  

  I know she's young and has to learn these things but I want to build a bond with her and help her understand how young women are.  I have been reading up and trying to take some expert advise(see insert) 

Cliques form and reform during this time. 
In elementary school, girls form groups to explore common interests and out of a need to be included and, sometimes, to be in control. These groups can become a problem when they get mean, exclusionary and gossipy. But the fact that they form is normal. Experts recommend that you become a role model for good social behavior, help your daughter name her thoughts and feelings, and act as a sounding board to help her talk about issues with cliques and friendships.

Best friends become a kind of currency.
In elementary school, many girls feel it's essential to have a best friend. "Best friends become a sort of currency," says Lawrence Cohen. "The words, 'I'll be your best friend' also mean, 'I have power over you, because I could take my friendship away.' " Rachel Simmons notes, "That particular threat is a prime example of relational aggression. The prevalence — and normalization — of bullying within girls' friendships can make it difficult for some girls to call a friend out on bullying behavior, because she is a friend." Lyn Mikel Brown adds, "It's important that we tell girls that they don't have to be friends with everyone, especially people who don't treat them well."

  I also have been giving her books (since she's an avid reader) to use as references. 

 It seems like us ladies sorta go through this a lot and men say take it or leave it more easily than we do.   I think for every 10 year period  in your life you meet about 10 new people and maybe 2 of them stay close friends or just become casual acquaintances.  It seems like before I had kids a lot of my relationships changed with my friends because they became parents.  Now that we are all parents we're just really busy and do periodic catching up.

  Working with Ty for 4 years we became close.  Our daughters 12 weeks apart  and sharing our pregnancy joys we grew closer.  But life gets super busy as us bloggers and crafters know.  So now and again we catch up, have lunch, drinks or attend a family event of the each others.  Out of the handful of friends I say that I have, I still count her as one.