Friendships

[Therapeutic70]

Hey everyone. Just looking for some quick words of wisdom. Our youngest is 8. She was crying when she came out of school because she hasn’t been invited to a birthday party. According to her this is the second one she hasn’t been invited to. She is so sad. She does have friends but I get the feeling that friendships are shifting and she is feeling a bit left out. She has been increasingly reluctant to go to school. School are super supportive and I know this is what happens in life but I want to support her with this. Thanks so much.

It's hard isn't it?

Both mine struggled with friendships. DD1 because she has social communication issues a bit similar to some children with ASD, and slow processing which meant her conversations always seemed a bit odd and out of sync with her peers. DD2 struggled because she was young for her age had delayed clarity of speech an wasn't very fluent verbally.

By 7/8 they tend not to be doing large parties so the likelihood of being missed out if you are on the periphery of groups increases.

So no help from me, but

My birth child struggled with friendships (my adopted son less so).

Some things you might be able to do... that might help ...

See if there is anything that 'everyone' is taking into school, and get your child one if allowed to take to school. When my child was at school it was a Baby Alien Egg Embryo Goo thing that was all the rage (about a decade ago!). Taking one small toy (palm of the hand sized thing) into school gave her something to play with friends with.

You can also invite people round for play dates and my advice would be keep them short, and hopefully sweet.

Other things that might work in nicer weather are to see where kids hang out after school, perhaps the park, with their mums/dads, and go there.

At the end of the day your child will need to work these things out but support from you can come in many forms and can be useful.

Build your child up and relax, I hope all will go well.