i think this is the right place to put this. first off, this cousin isnt a cousin by blood or marriege, she is my moms bestfriends daughter. i have known her since she was born when i was a little over 2. we have never been best of friends no matter how hard our mothers try, it just doesnt work. at least, thats what i thought. i went to my oma's(moms bestfriends mom) on sunday, and my cousins, aunt, and uncle were there too. i watched avatar with my cousins, which turns out to be a very good show by the way. when the little cousin(just turned 4) was tired, the said cousin(sarah) and i were swimming. swimming at oma's is the best thing ever, as she has no air conditioning. sarah and i got to talking, and she told me some things that no one else knows, things that hurt her. all her life, she has been "different". she does have a learning disability, is over-weight, and is very tall. i mean VERY. she is 13 and 5' 11"(totally unfair compare to my 5' 1.25"). people have always made fun of her for all of that. she has had to change schools nearly every year. she recently left a private school in lodi, and cannot go to public school as she lives in a scary part of stockton. she has never been ale to keep friends for longer then 6 months, because of changing schools so much. she is doing a version of home schooling through her school district. she had an option of moving to washington with her aunt, but was unable to because of her mother being too protective she told me that she wanted to move to washington to have a chance. she needs friends. she told me that i am her only friend. this made me feel like shit, because i have never thought of her as a friend, she was just my cousin to me. now to my point. her mother, my mother and i agree that she needs to get out often and meet people. in her city, she cannot. her mother has suggested her coming to livermore for a weekend to meet some of my friends and get out to do something. she is extremley naive, and her mother would like some of it to stay, so i cant have her meet all of my friends. what i need is ideas. anything you can think of would be amazing. thank you in advance!
How is your cousin socially? Can she be part of a conversation without being overly critical or "bossy"? If so, I'd just say do whatever you normally do. Any activity-based thing that allows some interaction. Bowling. Mini-golf. Go-karting. Things like that. If your cousin is really awkward when it comes to conversation, you might want to choose activites where there's less interaction. Movies are always good for that. I'd also suggest you give your friend a bit of a heads-up. Don't make your cousin into a charity case, necessarily, but let them know what her deal is. "She's kind of awkward - really tall, a bit overweight - and it makes her nervous around people. But she's OK. Just be friendly, and she'll be fine." Lex
once again, you have the best advice. of course socially, its always different. she can be having a good conversation, and then, sudenly, itll be awkward. im deffinatly giving everyone a heads up before. not everything obviously, but some. im hoping to take sarah to my friends show in later this month. its into the woods, which figure would be a good show for her, and she can meet my friend afterwards. by then, sarah will completely adore my friend. ...hopefully, all goes well...
