Sensitive

My girls are sensitive...which is mostly a good thing...but not always. Two examples I wanted to remember. On Tuesday, I picked up the kids from their after school program. My friend Brenda picked her daughter up at the same time so we were walking outside together. The kids were being silly as they climbed in the car, and Ella hurt Michelle accidentally (it has already slipped my mind how). Anyway, both girls burst in to tears. My friend Brenda exclaimed, "Oh, no, what happened to Ella?" since we knew how Michelle got hurt. I explained that she was crying because she hurt Michelle. She always cries when she hurts one of her sisters...It didn't even phase me when she began to cry because it is so typical.

Last week, Michelle was reading Marvin Redpost: Why Pick on Me. In the book, one bully starts saying that Marvin picked his nose although he really didn't. The other kids all start teasing him, his two best friends stop playing with him, and even the teacher writes on his report card that he is having social issues because the kids don't like his unsanitary habits and lack of personal hygiene. Michelle was sobbing by the middle of the book. She started saying, "This is horrible. HORRIBLE! Horrible. Those kids are so mean. He should tell the teacher what they've done. The teacher should help him. But she believes the other kids. This is so horrible. I hate those kids." Fortunately, by the end of the book Marvin solves his problem and they all learn a valuable lesson. But it was the first time Michelle had been moved to tears by a book. She really felt empathy for the characters (well, at least Marvin). I have seen similar reactions from her when real life situations happen as well.