One thing I am grateful for is that Daughter (aged 10) has inherited the social savvy and interpersonal skills from genes of the previous generations (like my Mom) that seemed to have skipped my generation (namely me).

I didn't have many friends growing up, maybe because I was a very strong personality who had to have things my way, and didn't really give a shit about what others thought. Though I'm sure I can be charming when I want to...I've been likened to a raging bull in a china shop (its totally true). Enough about that though.

So Daughter is at an age where her friends are very important to her, and has been having issues with one girl in particular. Apparently Daughter feels like this particular girl is trying to hog the attention of certain friends in the group or something like that. She came to me with this problem and asked for advice as to what to do.

I was honestly stumped...my initial reaction to a situation like this would be to tell the girl to #@#$@^ off and go @#%@#$$@# herself. But of course I couldn't tell Daughter that. Luckily she had one of those American Girl Books that gave advice for dealing with social situations like this, so we both eagerly read what the book had to say. In the end I told her to try and talk it out with the girl and see if it could be resolved that way (not my usual way). Daughter said okay, she would try.

A few days later, Daughter reported success, that she had talked to the girl and though they would never be close, close friends, they could at least try to tolerate each other and try to get along for the sake of the group. ZOMG how socially savvy is that for a girl of 10????? I was very proud of her for that and told her so. She seemed happy about that. It's a bit of a relief that Daughter is able to handle these situations more smoothly then I did.

In other news, check out this chick, she makes bento boxes for her boyfriend's lunch and it's quite an art form!