What is it about the Lady-folk?  Why and how do girls and women create such relational drama?

I apologize if the questions seem sexist -- but I can't help but wonder...

When our oldest child, a boy, entered elementary school, I have to admit that I was a bit concerned for his social compatibility with his classmates.  What with being a foreigner and all, I thought maybe he might have a hard time making friends.  To my great relief, my concerns turned out to be almost entirely unfounded.  Elliot got along splendidly with the other little boys and girls in his class.  You might even say that he managed to become rather popular among his classmates (he's had some of the girls from his class fighting over him on a few occasions!).  Now in his fourth year of public schooling, Elliot has relatively stable, steady, amicable relations with almost everyone in his class.  It's been much less dramatic (or traumatic) than I had ever expected.

But then our little girl went to school.

Olivia is now in her second year of public schooling.  She is excelling in the classroom.  Her language skills seem to be well ahead of where her older brother's language skills were at the same age.  And, as a whole, between Elliot and Olivia, I'd say that she's generally the more sociable kid.  But oh, the drama, the drama, the drama!  It seems that all the classic stereotypes about teen-aged girls -- such as their cattiness, their clique-ish behavior, their meanness, their chattiness, and their general emotional volatility -- are not traits saved for teenager-dom at all, but are in fact inborn feminine characteristics!

One day, Olivia comes home from school on cloud nine because she was picked by Eva-Catharina to walk through the school together and bring her friend's birthday treats to all the other classrooms (a great honor in their school, typically reserved for the two closest friends of the birthday-person).  She's happy because she and Mandy figured out how to play a new game together at recess and then united against Mohammed when he pushed her on the playground...

But then the next day (I'm speaking literally here, not figuratively!), Olivia comes out of her classroom looking like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh -- mopey and long-faced and hopelessly melancholy because Mandy said that Olivia wasn't her friend any more.  In fact, Mandy and Eva-Catharina spent all of recess playing exclusively with each other.  And Olivia's only friend in the whole world is Mohammed, who was nice to her during work-time in the classroom.

And the experience see-saws every day -- sometimes even from hour-to-hour throughout the course of the day!  Our little girl seems to be much more tied up in social dynamics than her brother ever has been; she's much more intuitive about how it's all supposed to work.  And while I realize that this can be a good thing, to a certain extent -- becoming wise to the intricacies of interpersonal communications and effectively practicing empathy in day-to-day situations -- I'm also watching with horror and amazement to see how difficult it can make the life of a five-year-old girl as well.  I'm glad that Olivia has as much spunk as she does -- enabling her to continually "fall off the horse" and get back on again.  We keep trying to parent our child through these treacherous waters, teaching her how to be kind and patient in all situations.

But man, I guess it's tough to grow up into a woman!