nothing gold can stay

You might recall a true story at the end of this post about a little girl we'll call Becca.  Becca recently told her mom, "Some of the girls chase boys at school."

Mom: Do you do that?

Becca: No!

Mom: Do Meg and Hailey do that?

Becca, shrugging: I don't know.

Mom, concerned because last she'd heard, Becca, Meg, and Hailey were all best buds: Do you play by yourself now at recess?

Becca: Yeah.

Mom: Did Meg and Hailey start playing games you don't like?

Becca: I don't know the details so stop asking questions.

Mom emails the teacher, because she can't stand not knowing. 

Teacher writes back: Over the past month or so she has started to not play with her peers at recess. It’s not that the girls don’t want play with her. It seems Becca likes to play by herself. She won’t join a game or include herself into a game. If she is asked, she will join a game but she never pushes herself into the group. The kids (girls) like Becca so it’s not that. The boys are not mean to her either. I feel that it is the social interaction that is difficult for her. She does still go to the social group with Mrs. Mclean but it’s still pretty hard for her. I don’t think it helps that many of the girls in this grade level are powerful slightly pushy in a way ladies. I know that didn’t sound nice but hopefully you understand. Becca is not a pusher.

Mom is relieved bullying is not involved, and can relate to preferring one's own company, so she's not going to be too sad about it if Becca's not sad about it.