Reflections of a 5th grader

My fifth grader will occassionally mention problems with classmates, ya know, typical 5th grade girl angst. She mostly takes issue with people who brag about themselves all the time. My oldest is, in my mom opinion, nothing like that type of person. I feel it's because she has a healthy self-esteem. I tried to explain to her that sometimes when people don't feel the greatest about themselves they need to brag to make themselves feel better. I guess my message was, be understanding and forgiving but don't let anyone push you around. Apparently my little speech brought forth a memory from second grade that she felt the need to share with me.

There is one classmate in particular that my daughter has problems with. She told me that one day in second grade she decided to stand up to her and tell her how mean she was and that it wasn't appreciated. She said she was feeling pretty good that she had been brave enough to confront this girl. Finally she said, "Then I realized my zipper was open."

Chalk that up to a lesson in humility.