Girls

Something that I have noticed and really dig about HVSS is the way the girls get along.

The first thing I noticed was that many girls seem to be more than happy to play or hang out with girls that are younger than themselves. Two of Amelia's good friends are 7 and 8 and they pretty much play the same as she does with other 5 and 6 year olds. I also noticed that when another new student started, who is 13, she was hanging out with a couple of 11 year olds.

The reason why I like this is that in regular schools there seems to be more pressure to be around and emulate older students, even if it goes against the kid's instincts. I think you see more precocious behavior that often comes from a fear of being left behind. The nice thing about age mixing is that it lets kids gravitate to the group that they feel more comfortable with in terms of their own maturity level.

The other thing that I like about the girls is that a lot of them have their own style and it seems to be on the modest side. I cannot stand to see young girls tarted up. Amelia likes to pick out her own stuff now and we have a lot of discussions about what is age appropriate and why I won't let her buy certain things. Fortunately she is more of a jeans and top kind of kid but I do draw the line at things that seem to mimic adult fashions too closely. We had an argument in a store about a shirt that she liked and I finally said because it looked like one of mine and there was really no good reason for a 37 year old and a 5 year old to be wearing the same stuff. Oops I'm veering off topic here.

Anyway, I'm not privy to the day to day interactions so I don't know if there is the kind of cattiness or mean girl dynamic that I often experienced and, let's be honest, took part in when I was in school. I wonder how boyfriend/girlfriend stuff plays out there? It's such a small school and the feelings are so intense at that age. Break-ups must suck big time. It's tough to avoid someone in such a small environment.