hurdles [hurt feelings]

this post is a little silly, but it got me thinking.

over the weekend, bird and I attended a 4 year old birthday party. like most birthday parties or gatherings we attend, bird beats to her own rhythm and bops around curiously exploring her new environment. getting her hands (and feet and at times mouth) all over whatever she can...

at some point she will find her level of comfort and level of exploration satisfaction and find interest in the big dogs (aka older children).

after things calmed down, I let stella in the birthday party bounce house with 3 other children (one being the birthday girl) who were old enough to know to be gentle with her in there. (I have to admit, bounce houses make me nervous with such a little thing, but go figure she loved it running back and forth saying "bouncy bouncy bouncy" like tigger).

these same 3 girls ended up inside shortly after and I happened to be changing bird's diaper. bird proceeded to repeat all their names and the birthday girl said "I don't like stella."

while i'm not losing sleep over it (although I desperately need sleep due to my lack of ability to fall asleep recently...), my heart hurt a little bit. while she's only four and was the birthday girl I wasn't going to bother to have a full fledged conversation about it. i'm sure it's stemming from something else and the inability to eloquently express her 4 year old emotions with couth.

the only reply I could come up with on a quick whim was "well, that's not very kind."

again, it's a four year old comment, but as a parent, you want people to like your child. and made me wonder, why don't you like my child? she's not even 2. of course, like the majority of parents, i tend to think my child is cool, sweet, funny, affectionate, and special (and has an attitude). that's what parents are supposed to think/feel about their kids, right?!
so the thought of someone not liking my child is hard to grasp. lucky for me, stella had no idea what was said and it was only a little piece of me that was hurt instead. i know, i'm grappling with a 4 year old here, but aside from the age, it had me thinking of what it will feel like down the road when the real mean girls may hurt my baby's feelings. how will i maturely handle the situation? what can i/we learn from hurtful words?

while i am still rooting for a nerd, i know there's heart ache in that too. there will likely come a day when my red-headed, un-tanned, free-spirited child gets made fun of and i will have to take a deep breath and encourage her to continue to be her beautiful, unique self while unfortunately not everyone likes everyone. yet...