My DD is 10 and just started back at school. I seem to be excessively worried, on edge and thinking way too much about all the friendship issues and daily mean girl stuff that goes on (yes only three days back to school. She is not being bullied but is on the fringes of the popular girl group and so sometimes gets excluded or pushed aside if a cooler girl comes along. They really are sometimes a hideous bunch. She doesn't have one best friend who is loyal to her. I am sure my girl is not perfect either but she is a bit less mature than the alphas she is dealing with.
My problem is really in how I deal with things. She is pretty resilient actually and has not expressed that she is particularly upset or worried. She just gets on with things and I suspect that this is the normal ups and downs of playground life at the moment. She is quite open and tells me most of the dramas of the day ( her take on it of course). It is great that she is open with me of course but I feel myself getting upset about it.
I was bullied at her age and was/am much more sensitive that she is , so I think that I feel every slight she tells me about personally for her if you know what I mean and it seems to bother me more than her. I worry excessively about her being OK and happy and not picked on. I feel that I am getting a bit too involved/obsessed with her friendships and getting ludicrously upset on her behalf about a whole host of things that she is not shedding tears over. I just want everybody to love her I guess and I know that is stupid.
So can you reassure me that this playground stuff is the normal day to day girl stuff that goes on and also how you manange to step away and not let worrying about it become a thing.
I should note that I do suffer a little from anxiety generally.
Thank you very much