Friendship issues

[LondonSuperTrooper]

My DS has been friends with 3 set of boys since year 1. He's now in year 4 and still refers to the boys as his friends. Unfortunately due to my falling out with one of the boys's mum his friendship has suffered. The other mum meet regularly with their boys and we are now excluded. This is very obvious as we live in a village and see them about. My son is hurt and upset and I don't know how to help him. He's not very confident and this situation has made everything worse. For example, last term he wasn't invited to their birthday parties. The boys told my son that he wanted to invite but his mum said no

We've invited them for play dates & on the whole the boys seem to get on well with DS. But he never gets invited back. I've been trying to encourage to invite other boys from his year but he only wants these 3 boys. My dilemma is that my son really likes them and seems unwilling to make new friends.
How can I help him please?

[redskybynight]

Are there issues when he is in school? From what you've written it sounds like not, in which case I would just tell DS they are his "school friends" for playing with only in school. this is the norm for plenty of children!! In a year or so the children aren't going to be so dictated to by their parents anyway and things may change.

I'd also look at getting him into some out of school activities so he makes friends that are outside of his school. Maybe something like cubs?

[anothermakesthree]

Can't you try to keep up the outside friendships with the two other mums/boys?

It's a sad fact of primary school that you can occasionally come across some parents who behave as though they were back at school themselves.

[PowerPantsRule]

I second red sky's suggestion, try and build confidence outside school. It's very difficult for you.