5 year old friendship problems - extreme jealousy

[PlinkyPlonkyDonkey]

My 5 year old daughter has a really intense friendship with one girl at school. I encourage her to widen her friendship group and include others, organise play dates with other kids etc but she and this other girl are pretty obsessed with each other. My daughter says the other girl doesn't like other kids joining in with their games...she says the same to her mum about my daughter.

Today my daughter made the other girl a card with drawings of broken hearts and the message 'good luck with your new best friend' - apparently the other girl had chosen to play with someone else and that's how my daughter reacts...seems pretty extreme passive aggressive reaction for a 5 year old...

Any advice about how to handle this, encourage broader friendships? Is this sort of jealousy and intense friendship common at this age?

I may be overreacting, I just really don't want my daughter to be the kid that leaves others out and would love for her to have healthy friendships.

TIA

[HennyPennyHorror]

When my DD2 got into something like this, I enlisted the help of her teacher. She supported them both and helped them to move on.

Can I ask about your family background? Does DD have siblings? Is Dad part of her life?

[PlinkyPlonkyDonkey]

Hiya, thanks for replying. She's an only child, and yes her dad/my husband is around and an active part of her life. The fact she's an only child might be something to do with it, just wondering if there's strategies and ideas we can use to help her with these feelings of jealousy, to support her to build healthy friendships x

[FindaPenny]

I agree with Henny, I would talk to the teacher and ask if they are working in groups or pairs that your daughter isn't placed with the other girl.... Many teachers pick up on friendships like this anyway and would start to automatically separate them.