4 year old daughter hitting best friend

[dancingmonkey]

My daughter has started lashing out at her best friend. She absolutely loves her and most of the time are really happy together. There are no issues at school but occasionally when we see her after school and her friend comes round she will have an outburst and start throwing stuff at her, lucky only things like paper and also slapping her arms or legs. Sometimes she does this when friends mum is there and I feel so terrible and embarrassed by DD behavour. She never does this at school, she is very shy and almost feels like as they are very close she feels comfortable enough to express her anger in a similar way you would with a sibling. Does anyone have any similar stories or advice?

If she's in Reception she might just be too tired to cope with after school play dates. I'd stop them for a couple of months and see if she improves afterwards. Our Primary school didn't run after school clubs first the Reception School as they said they received no benefit from them as they were all too tired.

Yes totally agree with @BunnyRuddington.. way too much for your DC to cope with after school at her age. Her behaviour is telling you she’s tired and overwhelmed. Save the play dates for the weekend xx

Thankyou both! Yes to be honest they were both tired, but still her friend never behaves in that way so didn't think it was a fair excuse to say it's just because she's tired!

Each child copes with school differently though and has different sleep requirements. Just because her friend isn't overly tired doesn't mean your DD isn't

Also, her friend might be on best behaviour as it's not her home and have a full melt down due to be overtired once she's home.