Social rejection is an undesirable phenomenon with serious present and future implications for children who experience it. Growing rates of social rejection and bullying in elementary-school children, especially on social networks, have been examined mostly from a pathological perspective focused on the rejected child or rejecting group. This qualitative study sought developmental explanations for the phenomenon's pervasiveness during the latency period. Specifically, it examined the individual-group interplay underlying social rejection to identify normative and nonnormative development explaining social rejection during middle childhood. Twelve focus groups of 140 Israeli children in Grade 5 discussed social rejection and other social issues. Data were categorized according to Moustakas's revised van Kaam method, yielding three themes. Participants suggested that children reject peers who do not conform to the group's developmental needs for (a) independence from adults, (b) social uniformity, and (c) participation in defiant, negative behaviors. Thus, the findings confirmed that such rejection and even bullying play a normative developmental role in latency. Practical implications for educators and mental health professionals and directions for future research are discussed to offer teachers, parents, and therapists an approach to preventing or treating social rejection at this age.