I would be so wary of the political implications here, personally, that I would handle this incredibly quote-unquote professionally (by which I mean that style of workplace interaction that we pretend is depoliticized.
eg. "Hi, Lynn, could you ask your niece not to interact me in the office anymore? She's developed a habit of attempting to provoke me, and while she's seven years old and obviously her provocations don't bother me, it's become disruptive for my efforts to get my work done. I love that we are allowed to bring children into the office when necessary, but it can't be a distraction from our actual jobs, as I'm sure you agree."
Once you are arguing with a kid who is out to troll you as if you are equals, you've lost. You can talk to the seven-year-old if they are interested in actual conversation, but this kid is trolling. Because the niece isn't in their childcare program, and LW has no educational or guardian relationship with them, this isn't a conversation they can have. The most they could do is have the conversation with the niece directly, instead of with Lynn: "hi, it's good that you have this place to spend time with your aunt on snow days, but I have a job to do and I have to get it done, so I'd appreciate if you stopped distracting me from my job."
In theory that might work and it is certainly more respectful to the child, but since this kid really does appear to be both weaponized and enjoying the bullying, I would suspect that it would be more likely to switch to loudly talking about LW in earshot.
(yes, this is bullying, despite the power differential. Or it's an attempt to bully, anyway. And if Lynn's relationship with the executive team is such that the niece is allowed to keep doing it, then it is actively bullying.)
no subject
I would be so wary of the political implications here, personally, that I would handle this incredibly quote-unquote professionally (by which I mean that style of workplace interaction that we pretend is depoliticized.
eg. "Hi, Lynn, could you ask your niece not to interact me in the office anymore? She's developed a habit of attempting to provoke me, and while she's seven years old and obviously her provocations don't bother me, it's become disruptive for my efforts to get my work done. I love that we are allowed to bring children into the office when necessary, but it can't be a distraction from our actual jobs, as I'm sure you agree."
Once you are arguing with a kid who is out to troll you as if you are equals, you've lost. You can talk to the seven-year-old if they are interested in actual conversation, but this kid is trolling. Because the niece isn't in their childcare program, and LW has no educational or guardian relationship with them, this isn't a conversation they can have. The most they could do is have the conversation with the niece directly, instead of with Lynn: "hi, it's good that you have this place to spend time with your aunt on snow days, but I have a job to do and I have to get it done, so I'd appreciate if you stopped distracting me from my job."
In theory that might work and it is certainly more respectful to the child, but since this kid really does appear to be both weaponized and enjoying the bullying, I would suspect that it would be more likely to switch to loudly talking about LW in earshot.
(yes, this is bullying, despite the power differential. Or it's an attempt to bully, anyway. And if Lynn's relationship with the executive team is such that the niece is allowed to keep doing it, then it is actively bullying.)