Water Carrier

MCC did much water carrying on the beach today for two older girls and she loved every minute. Time after time she ran down the beach to get fresh seawater for the mud cakes they were making. She is lying by my side now and is suitably knackered!

I was watching over her whilst reading a book and saw a girl who was visiting a friend for the day make a dreadful face at Flora. She then made a sound like a nasty cat. Flo just looked at her confused. The older girl was clearly perturbed that Flora had made friends with the girl she had come to visit.

I carried on watching and the girl said 'I don't like you' and then promptly started blowing raspberries. I expected a response from Flo, ready to step in if needed but interested to see how she coped, after all the school of hard knocks we call life will be with her most days. Again Flora just looked confused and then promptly told the girl she was being naughty. At this point I was filling up. I was so proud of her. Within minutes the girl was chatting to MCC as normal, pleasant to the unknowing eye. They had moved on easily, seamlessly.

As we left the beach an hour later due to pneumonia settling in, I mentioned it to Flora who immediately sprung to the girls defence.

Life eh! Protect or let them learn? Interestingly the girl was just 7, her birthday the same day as Flora's. The parents both seemed lovely. We can but try...

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