I remember watching my daughter and her friends interact on the playground when she was 2, 3 and 4 years old. Boys or girls, quiet or rambunctious, it didn’t matter; everyone was a possible new friend. Everyone had potential.

After she started school, a shift began to evolve that was so subtle, it could have been missed. It was a power shift,  of sorts. When I subbed in the elementary schools during those years, I saw it almost everywhere, the divisions forming. The playground cliques. The pitting of one child against another – if you include her, I won’t play. […]