Sugar and spice....NOT

What are little girls made of?

The English nursery rhyme goes like this;

What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything that's nice,

That's what little girls are made of.

And from that you're supposed to think that little boys are stinky and dirty, whilst little girls are saccharine sweet (a bit like the Disney Channel).

However, this is just not true. Little girls are mean, spiteful and uncaring, that pretty sugary gloss masks a bitter, heartless core.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the strife Jas was having at school with her group of 'friends', it was all resolved....supposedly.

Jas hasn't been to school for 8 days, she's been too sick (literally) and now she's too weak and it will be Monday (so make that 9 days off school) before she's back (and even then I think I shall have to drive her the 5 minutes walking distance and then collect her as soon as lessons finish (rather than leaving her at school till 4pm for ganztag as is her normal routine)
Yesterday I got the post from the postbox and found an envelope addressed to Jasmine, to be opened only by Jasmine it said, from her friend R, how sweet I thought, how kind. I gave it to Jas who in the weak and pathetic manner that she's been perfecting since starting feel less ill asked me to read it to her, so I did.

Now you know how when you read something in a language that you know inside and out you kind of scan along and you understand what's being written before you've read the words out loud? Well, my German isn't good enough for that to happen, I'm understanding it as I read it and not until I've spoken the word is there necessarily any comprehension...shame really, otherwise I mightn't have read out to Jas what I did.

90%, maybe more of the envelope's contents were sweet and well meaning, get well soon, wear a vest (a German thing) I miss you, blah blah blah. And then the kick in the teeth;

'H says that she doesn't like you and thinks that you can't be friends and B is now on H's side'
and then somewhere else R had written
'H, M, M, B don't like you, but I do'

Wow, how to kick a person when they're down eh? Poor, poor little Jas, sick and at home for 8 days and then to receive that little missive, charming. R might mean well, but a little less honesty might have been better in the circumstances.

There was no option in my mind but to speak the the teacher about this matter , again. He came by today and I think was quite shocked when he actually read the letter. To say things like that anyway are hurtful, but to comit them to paper and deliver them to someone who's sick enough to warrant being off school for 2 weeks...lessons in tact and diplomacy all round methinks.

The upshot is that come Monday when Jas returns to school the class teacher is getting the girls together and will hopefully thrash this matter out until there is no life left in it.

Sugar and spice my foot.

Sourness and spite more like.