Already?

My heart is aching tonight after having a talk with my son who is in third grade. THIRD GRADE. And he is already having to deal with cliques and popularity. It hurts to think that he doesn't want to go to school because of the mean kids or being left out of the "good" teams at recess. So it made me ponder this: "Do we as parents make our kids cliquey?" I have to think the answer is yes.
We've all been there. Left out of something we so desperately want to be a part of. As adults, I would like to think we don't do this to each other. But we do. When we don't want to invite certain people to our gathering, our kids see. They hear. Even though we think they don't have a clue. How easy it is to leave out the people that are different. And by doing things with the same group of friends all the time, we teach our kids that they are the only ones worth doing anything with. Our kids become good friends with our friends' kids. And then when they go to school or church together, they leave others out and it hurts. And the parents of the kids left out have to try to explain to them why the group they so desperately want to fit in with wants nothing to do with them.
THIRD GRADE. Really?