DD is in Yr8. She is a generally happy child, usually gets on ok with most people, kids & adults. Young for her age in that she's not that fussed about boys or being cool. She'd still rather be playing on the trampoline or doing handstands.
She does a club a couple of times a week, and the kids there are a bit different to her - she takes the club fairly seriously and might even have a future in it if she wants it - has done some competitions. The others are mostly there just to have fun, which is fine. They aren't interested in doing well at school (DD is - she's not a genius, but she tries to do her best), they are interested in boys & makeup & fashion & being cool. They spend a fair bit of time during these sessions mucking about and talking about these things, whereas DD wants to learn more and do well.
The relationships with all the girls in the sessions have previously been quite amiable, but more girls have joined, and now it's getting a bit cliquey. There are a few girls in particular who have started to be a bit unpleasant - telling my DD that what she's doing is lame (she's working on another comp piece), that things she says are lame, and excluding and laughing at her. It seems to be slowly escalating.
I'm so torn - part of me wants to go charging in, and ask the session coach to deal with it (not sure what the reaction would be), but another part of me wonders if I'm being overprotective, and should be encouraging DD to develop some resilience and techniques to deal with unpleasant people. It's not helped by me not really having these issues as a kid - so it's hard to know how to tell DD to deal with it, as I never had to.
So my AIBU is to wonder where the line is - what is just kids being kids, and what is bullying? Where is that crossover? What point do you step in? I guess it's a bit of a WWYD too!
It's just such a bloody shame - DD loves these sessions, and they're being a bit spoilt by unpleasant kids.