M.E.
I have a nine-year old who is in the 3rd grade because she had a Sept BD and she couldn't get into the school we wanted until she waited. So she's with younger kids. I make a concerted effort to keep her young - from the TV programs we watch - to the toys and activities we're involved with. We don't do cheer-leading or play with Bratz dolls, for instance. And she'd not in after school day care which can be sort of be unsupervised because there are so many kids. We read together and I encourage her to read classic books or quality reading - not TV based books. So even if your daughter's with older kids I think you can still exercise a lot of influence over her. I think it's also OK tell her that you don't want her to do something - have a boyfriend, for instance. She's looking to you for guidance - if you think even pretending to have a boyfriend at 8 isn't cool with you, tell her. I find that my daughter can act as if she knows everything but she's just a little girl under it all and needs me to set parameters. I think we can think our kids are so book smart that they know how to handle themselves in certain social situations as well but I think it's important to remind ourselves that they are kids and we are their moms. It's OK to say no and set them straight.