That’s not the reaction she was expecting. My daughter came home, and I could tell something was weighing on her. She’s eight, and she doesn’t hide things well, and I’ve learned to read the specific kind of quiet that means she needs to say something but doesn’t know how to start.
Nobody tells you this part. You sign them up for the sleep-away camp, the sports program, the art intensive, the all-day-every-day enrichment schedule that is supposed to give them the best summer of their lives. You spend more than you probably should. You tell yourself it’s an investment in their childhood, their memories, their development.
We need to talk about this. I see it every year, right around when school starts. Parents coaching their kids to hit back if someone hits them first. I get it. I do. Nobody wants to watch their child get picked on. Nobody wants to raise a kid who can’t stand up for themselves.