Transparent Tuesday

Hold onto your horses because I'm about to unleash! Want to know what gets under my skin more than anything else?

Today's Transparent Topic: Mean Girls

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I was at the pool with my kids last week and witnessed a little incident that has been crawling all over me ever since. Honestly, I felt like I was on the show What Would You Do? as I sat and listened to the conversation unfold right before me.

First, I'll tell you what happened then I'll tell ya what I did.

Let's set the scene. My kids and one friend are being goofballs  splashing around and having fun. We're at our neighborhood pool so it's not long before more kiddos come around. As the pool starts to fill up I notice a group of 3 preteen girls walk in with one of their dads. All three of these girls are very thin and pretty. They jump right in and one of the girls quickly corrals the other two and loudly makes an observation..."See those girls over there? They're fat!" Might I add that she emphasized the word 'fat' in a much louder tone?

Her two friends didn't give her the response she must have been seeking so this little girl felt the need to repeat herself at least 3 more times, getting louder each time. She even started to single out one specific girl as her target. I was very grateful my daughter was not her target but my heart hurt for the one that was.

I sat and pondered what to do. Should I say something? Should I talk to the girl? Should I talk to her dad? If I say something, will Bryn become their target sometime down the road? If it were my daughter saying such mean things, how would I want it handled?

Well, I decided to approach the dad as we were leaving the pool. I simply asked if the little girl was his daughter. He acknowledged she was so I informed him of the conversations I had just overheard. I probably should have stopped there but I went on...I let him know that with so many girls struggling with self-esteem issues these days, comments like his daughter's were doing nothing but harm!!!

About that time, the girl swam up to her father and he questioned her. Guess what her response was?..."Well, they couldn't hear me!" We made our exit at that time and I'm not sure how the father addressed the issue or if he even did a thing.

I apologized to Bryn as we were leaving for fear of embarrassing her, but also let her know that witnessing something harmful and not doing anything about it is just as bad as being the one in the wrong.

Want to know what else I did about this situation? I went home and prayed for the "mean" girl. If she feels the need to pick on someone like that then there must be something about herself that she's not too pleased with. So I'm praying that she will not only see the error of her ways, but will love herself just the way God made her.

Any "mean" kids in your life that need a little prayer? Leave me a comment or send me an email: dfrieling1@gmail.com. As moms, sisters, aunts and friends, the best weapon we have against worldly ugliness is prayer!