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Daughter excluded from best friends birthday

55 replies

Iamstrongiammum · 18/02/2019 19:40

Just found out my daughter has been excluded from her best friends birthday celebration.
Our girls are the same age (8) and have been friends since birth (NCT)
They go to different schools but see each other every other weekend due to family commitments and work etc. Usually hang out the whole day or go on a day trip etc.
I consider the mum a very close friend, to the extent that I was considering asking her if she would raise my daughter if anything ever happened to me. (I have no family and dd’s dad isn’t interested) so this family is very important to us, they mean a lot.
After being asked to keep some dates free whilst mum worked out when the celebration could happen, time ticked by and I started to wonder where the invite was. Fast forward to a week before and I have to ask out right if she had finalised the date yet, to be told that something was happening for school friends only and she would get back to us about when we could do something, but she wasn’t sure when it would be.
I almost burst into tears when I heard this. My little girl would be destroyed if she found out. I feel physically sick and I don’t know what to do. It’s so mean.
I want to add that my daughter also knows some of these children that have been included from other parties and get togethers, she’s very well behaved and gets on with everyone and is no trouble. I cannot think of why they wouldn’t invite her.
I’m a considerate friend, I don’t impose myself or take the piss, I never ask for anything and always offer to help out when I can.
I feel so upset. Have I just completely mis-read and entire friendship for the past 9 years?
What should I do?

OP posts:
BartonHollow · 19/02/2019 18:22

@Thirtyrock39

I was also on the similar receiving end of becoming best friends with someone in Juniors whose mother infinitely preferred the previous best friend and her mother.

It genuinely took me to adulthood to grasp why she always seemed to dislike me and

"I wasn't Joanna"

Only hit me like a bolt from the blue off a titbit from casual conversation with "Joanna's mum" who I got to know in her own right years later

Its hugely detrimental to your child and other people's children to treat them differently and Hmm because they aren't "Joanna" like they are deliberately deciding to sabotage the naice friendship you've picked out

artisticpiles · 19/02/2019 18:27

I have a very close friend, we've known each other for years since our dds were at primary school together, and our dds were also very close at one time.

They are now young adults - they grew apart when they were in their early teens and hardly ever even contact one another any more. They have totally different personalities, and likes & dislikes.

It happens, but it hasn't affected my friendship with her mum.

ThatsWotSheSaid · 19/02/2019 18:39

I get it OP you’re hurt for your daughter. I would be too in your situation. Don’t blame the other Mum the most likely situation is your friends DD just isn’t as in to the friendship anymore. Maybe she had a new BFF maybe one of her friends dislikes your daughter for some random reason. What ever the reason it’s clear your friend has been too embarrassed to mention it. Things may blow over if they may drift apart. But it shouldn’t have an impact on your relationship.

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Polly987 · 26/02/2019 13:15

I personally don't see anything wrong with them not inviting your dd to the school party, it's more the way it's been done. If your friend had said, look we're just doing a small gathering with school friends, we don't want your dd to feel left out, as up til now we've invited them both to each other's parties since they were little - but now they're getting older, the way we do things start to change for various reasons... If it was me and it was the first time we were doing things differently, I'd be aware of you and your dd potentially feeling miffed / left out and would mention the reasons it's different this year. If she's given you dates to arrange something for them to do together, and then just doesn't bother to actually make any plans, then yes that would be hurtful, but hopefully she will still organise something.

When my daughter was this age she went from being friends with everyone in her class and being invited to all the parties (but also having one special best friend at school) to the classes being mixed up in year 3 and then the girls formed much smaller groups, a group of 4 in her case. She also drifted away from her previous one special bf as they matured, things became less intense, and instead she became one of my dd's group of 3 bf's. They start to have more autonomy and your friend's dd may just want it to be her school friend at her party, there is probably a particular group of them that are close. Your dd might feel left out, or if like you say your girls are so close like sisters, then maybe the mum is worried they'll stay together the whole time and it would effect the school friends group dynamics? There could be so many reasons. If you want to know why, I would just ask your friend. Plus if your dd has her birthday coming up soon as well, you could use that to start a conversation about things, discussing potential plans with your friend and then casually mention you're not sure whether to do separate things this year now that they're getting older, one with dd's school friendship group, and one with said close friend. She's bound to then explain why she did the same.

We've always done separate things with the kids cousins, we tried a couple of parties when they were younger where they came along to the school friends party we were doing, but it didn't work. Either the kids would stay with their cousins and school friends would feel left out, or they'd stick with the school friends, and the cousins would feel left out. If you say the girls are like family to each other, then this may be what your friend is worried about and the reason for the separate events.

Saying that, if your friend put potential dates out there with you to arrange for the girls to do something together, and then you hear nothing else about it, I'd be miffed. I'd wait and see though, organising the school party has probably been the first priority as it involves getting more people together on one date and with more children there it's more to organise. So she may have just not got round to arranging things with you yet? No harm in you asking her if she still wants to do something for your girls on the dates she mentioned?

notacooldad · 02/03/2019 22:20

I have a very close friend, we've known each other for years since our dds were at primary school together, and our dds were also very close at one time.
They are now young adults - they grew apart when they were in their early teens and hardly ever even contact one another any more. They have totally different personalities, and likes & dislikes
We have exactly the same situation going on. My son had a friend from reception and was really close. His friend came on holiday with us, he went on holiday with them, the did judo together, spent every weekend together and so on. Once at high school there was a bit of a drift going on but still good friends. By year 8 they had separate friendships groups and the lad hasn't stepped foot in our house since. The lads are now men aged 23. My son bumped into the ex friend at a house party at Christmas and had a good natter and laugh

It happens, but it hasn't affected my friendship with her mum despite the drift I class his mum as one of my closest friends. In fact we had tea out this afternoon, going to a gig on Tuesday and having a holiday away in a few weeks time.

Life moves on and people form their own friendship groups even at a young age.

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