Emma switched tables at school today, and she told me about her new seat-mates.
Em: "I like everyone except Lucy. She's too nice."
Me: "What do you mean by 'too nice'? I don't understand."
Em: "You know, like she's high nice."
Me: "I'm still not following you."
Em: "Like, she is never mean and she always uses her manners and she's just too nice."
Me: "Is she annoying you? Do you think she's being fake?"
Em: "No, that's not what I said. I said she's HIGH UP nice, like TOO nice. Like...she is so graceful and careful and she talks really sweet in this high voice and says things like, 'Oh, thank you Emma.' 'Did you have a nice Thanksgiving, Emma?' 'Do you want to be best friends forever, Emma?'"
Me: "I still don't get what you mean by 'high up nice.' Do you mean because her voice is high?"
Em: "NO! It's like a pyramid. You know, like there's Really Really Bad at the bottom? And then Really Bad above that, and then Bad, and then Nice, and then high up of Nice is Too Nice. Lucy is TOO Nice."
Me: "Um...okay. I'm sorry that her kindness is so upsetting to you. That must be really frustrating."
Em: "Yeah. Well, I don't act rudely to her or anything. I just smile and say, 'Thank you, Lucy.' But inside I know she is too nice for me and we will never be friends."
2 comments:
I loved the pyramid concept - perhaps I can use it in one of my training sessions! That Emma - she's one creative cookie! Love, G Kitty
Yeah, I remember feeling that way about classmates too. It took me a long time to realize some of these "too nice" people could be really awesome and radical.
Post a Comment