Argh!

The pinching continues. And the rather smug tattling, on Ginger's part.

If they were both my kids, I'd be tempted to just bang their heads together. As it is, I've told MG that she can't go to gymnastics next class if I hear about any more pinching. Since Ginger's mom takes both of them.

"I'm trying," she squeaked, all pathetic, and "It's really hard," and "I couldn't bear to miss gymnastics!"

I was unmoved. "Well, then, you'll just have to try hard enough so that you don't pinch Ginger at all between now and next Tuesday."

Then I elaborated on how I couldn't let her be in the car with Ginger if she couldn't keep Ginger's body safe, and I couldn't let Ginger's mom do us a favor if my kid was hurting Ginger's mom's kid. Which is the real crux of it.

The truth is, Ginger can be a total nudnik and a pain in the butt. Since they're together so much--on the bus, at after-school care, etc.--and we're friends with Ginger's parents, she can't just totally ignore her. I told MG they don't have to be best friends or even like each other, but they absolutely cannot hurt each other.

We are working on a list of things to do when Ginger bugs her, instead of pinching. So far the list is pretty short. Any suggestions welcome.