First Embarrassment

Today my heart broke for J. When she came home from school she wasn't her normal happy, bubbly self. I knew that something was up, but knowing her, if I pushed the issue she wouldn't tell me anything. Sure enough a little time went by and she crawled on to my lap to lay her problems on me.

Apparently during class the elastic on her adjustable waist jeans had come unbuttoned. Since I buy my kid's clothes big, this meant her new school jeans were huge in the waist, which of course led to them sliding down and showing her underwear. One little girl in her class told J and she pulled up her pants only to have them immediately fall down again. The double underwear showing was just too much for a group of five year olds and, as J tells it, everyone laughed at her. The teacher told the class to stop and try to forget about it, but the damage had been done, J had experienced her first truely embarrassing moment.

As J was relating the whole sad story to me, her eyes were overflowing with tears. I just didn't know what to do. I wanted to yell at the entire class and tell them to be nice to my little girl! My mother bear instinct was in full force. Obviously my first instinct wasn't an option, so I settled for cuddling J and reminding her this was a lesson on how we don't want to treat people. Maybe the next time she sees someone else facing an embarrassing moment she will remember what it feels like to be the butt of the joke and not laugh. She looked at me earnestly and said she would, but who really knows if the lesson sunk in. Hopefully it did and a negative event will turn into a positive one.

On a completely different note, it makes me think we need to nip my families penchant for showing our underwear in the bud!