Bobby Came To Play

I have been hearing a fair bit about a little girl called Bobby since school started. Stella talked about her positively and I thought it was nice for her to find a new good friend. On the other hand, Stella’s mum had been whispering to me about the two (Stella & Bobby) being like chalk and cheese. I believe that Bobby is the child who refused to believe that Stella can already read. Since she is so fond of Bobby, Stella immediately suggested asking her, when asked to invite a friend to come over for a little play. The following is what I heard from Stella’s mum.

The child was supposed to popover at around 10:00 am on Saturday but her mum didn’t drop her off until around 11:00 am. Stella’s mum tried to call them and was prepared to offer to pick up Bobby but she couldn’t get through. When they finally arrived, Bobby looked like she had only just woken up. Her mother had a hard time rounding up all of the rest of her children because they kept begging to stay. Stella’s mum told me that while she wanted Stella to have many friends to play with, she actually thought that she might not be able to cope with so many children running around the house. When I found out that there were 5 children in that family, I instantly thought about the school fees. OMG! Imagine raising so many children and sending all of them to an expensive private school!

Stella played the little hostess that she is so capable of by showing the house to her friend. Bobby didn’t look groggy for long. In fact, as soon as her mum’s people mover was out of sight, Stella’s mum said that Bobby became very energetic almost all at once. She was definitely not shy when Stella’s mum was not around. She jumped on Stella’s bed. She checked out her collection of books by pulling all of them off the little bookcase in the bedroom. When she was done playing upstairs, she asked for something to eat. Stella’s mum offered them one banana muffin each. Then, Bobby was heard talking to Stella about chocolate sauce and asked Stella if they had any. Stella knew what she was talking about but had to ask her mum first. Her mum’s answer was that there was none left. Meanwhile she tried having a conversation with Bobby, but the child was like the cat caught her tongue and answered only using a minimal number of words. Through her volunteer speaker, Bobby continued to ask for various things via Stella. Stella’s mum had to refuse most of these requests because she was in the middle of making lunch for the both of them.

After struggling through lunch because Bobby was allegedly allergic to rocket spinach and other greens used in the sandwich, Stella’s mum offered the girls an art and craft activity. By the way, Stella’s mum did call Bobby’s mum to check if she had any allergies to any food and she learned that the child has none. As the girls worked together, gathering supplies to set up the activity at the table, Stella invited her mum to play with them. Being an only child, Stella spends a lot of time doing things with grown-ups like her parents and I. We didn’t think that she saw anything wrong or weird in working with grown-ups. Not on this Saturday though. As Stella’s mum was looking for her pair of scissors in the cupboard, she overheard Bobby whispering, “This is for kids, Silly! This is not for grown-ups.” When she approached the table with the scissors in her hand, she saw that Stella looked somewhat confused and embarrassed.

Before long, it was time for Bobby to go home. Her mum arrived with her siblings and one of the siblings that sat in the front passenger seat couldn’t help but beep the horn numerous times. Stella waved them goodbye and called out, “Come and play again, Bobby!” Stella’s mum told me that her smile nearly vanished in a split of a second when she heard her little girl say that. Did Stella say it automatically because she is friendly and polite or did she really like the little girl and would like to play with her again? After the play date, Stella fell asleep on the couch and her mum discovered a bomb site in her little girl’s bedroom. That wasn’t even the worst discovery. She later found Stella’s toilet unflushed and brown marks smeared across the wall above the toilet roll.

Stella’s parents do not like Bobby very much but they do not want to interfere with their little girl’s choice of friends for now. They worry about Bobby’s influence on Stella. The Supergirl is turning 5 in April. She is a highly intelligent child but is she capable of making her own mind up with little influence from other children? Stella’s parents have a very close bond with her. On the pretext of filling his father in on her day of playing with Bobby, the little family had a chat about a few issues bothering Stella’s mum. She said that through the conversation, she got to learn of Stella’s response. They told me that they tried to keep things as neutral as possible because they didn’t want Stella to see Bobby in a bad way just because they don’t approve of her. It seemed that at this stage, Stella is not that easily swayed. Her mum said that it is good that Stella has good relationships with adults that she can trust and ask questions. I do agree with that and she has been asking me a few interesting questions since school started.