So, I picked up the girls at school today and, as usual, asked them how their day was. Emma said, "I had a HORRIBLE day at school." I asked her why. She said, "I lost my best friend." In pushing a bit further, I find out that she has these two friends...we'll call them Danna and Savannah...because, afterall...those are their names. ;) Danna and Savannah don't like eachother. So, they told Emma that she couldn't be friends with both of them, so she had to choose which one she wanted to be friends with. Emma told them she didn't want to choose, but they told her she had to. Later in the day, Danna pulled Emma aside and told her that if she didn't choose to be her friend and not Savannah's, she was going to tell the teacher that Emma had hit her. Emma didn't want to get in trouble, so she told Savannah she was choosing to be Danna's friend.

Before I even had a chance to respond, this is the conversation Caitlin and Emma had:

Caitlin: "You should tell Danna that you're not going to choose and then tell the teacher what Danna said so you won't get in trouble if Danna does lie and say you hit her."

Emma: "I can't do that because then I would be a tattle tale and no one would trust me."

Caitlin: "Well, I don't care if your friends trust me or not, so I'll go tell the teacher. I just don't want you getting in trouble because your friend isn't nice and lied to the teacher."

Emma: "I don't know..."

Caitlin: "I'm going to talk to your teacher before school tomorrow. Oh, and at lunchtime, sit next to Danna."

Emma: "Why?"

Caitlin: "Because I'm in charge of your lunch period (She's in student goverment and is in charge of keeping order during the 1st grader's lunch period) and I want to have a little talk with Danna. So, just sit by her so I know who to talk to."

Emma: "Okay. What should I tell Savannah?"

Caitlin: "Tell both of them that you won't choose and that if they say you have to, then they're not good friends at all because good friends don't tell their friends they can't be friends with someone else."

Emma: "Okay. Thank you Caitlin."

Caitlin: "You're welcome."

I'm not sure I've ever been as proud of Caitlin as I was on that short trip home today. Drake and I have always done our best to instill in our children the value of family and taking care of one another and that home is your safe haven where you don't have to worry about the issues that you worry about at school or with your friends. Short of kicking the girl's butt that made Emma cry at a karate tournament (don't worry...it was on the mat and she was supposed to kick her butt lol) I've never seen Caitlin truly show that she understood what it meant to take care of your family. When she was talking about having a "talk" with Danna, you could clearly hear in her voice and see in her eyes, "No one messes with MY family."