real friendship

At the dinner table tonight, Ryan(9) declared that he was going to tell his friend to stop hitting, pinching and kicking him.

I am a girl so the obvious follow-up to this was, “that doesn’t sound like much of a friend.”

Ryan is a boy and responded that this friend was his very best friend.

Very best?

Yes.   He asked me awhile ago to be his best friend and I said YES.

Well, if he is actually your best friend then stopping the hitting, pinching and kicking shouldn’t be a problem.

Ryan agreed and in boy fashion changed the subject completely without another thought.

Rhett(5) piped up with the daily mention of Micheal*.

*I have changed the name of this child because I don’t know him or his parents and I only hear a very slanted one side of the story.

I hate Michael!

You don’t hate him.   You don’t even KNOW him.

Rhett hates the Michael he has never met because allegedly during the first week of school, Reid(7) mentioned something about his little brother to Michael and he replied, “Your little brother is a dummy.”

*gasp*

Reid came home from school and told the whole sordid tale.   Every day for the last 7 months Rhett re-lives the story in some way.

I have done everything I could think of to lessen the blow of Michael’s naughty words.

He doesn’t even KNOW you.

He was just saying that to make himself LOOK important.

Michael is crazy and you shouldn’t listen to crazy people.

Reid quietly mentioned that he had taken care of Michael.

Taken care of Michael?

Yep.

How did you take care of Michael?

A few weeks ago he asked me to be his friend.   I said YES.

*Reid smiled a smile that was slightly sinister in appearance*

I said YES, but I didn’t mean it.   He is my fake-friend.