Please help. My 5 year old started a relatively new friendship with a child who started at her school earlier in the year. My daughter was paired up with her to look after her, they get along really well and struck up a close bond.
However, the dynamics have changed significantly to the point we barely recognise our LO, and from out of nowhere, her behaviour has become abnormally aggressive. We think we now know it is learnt behaviour after we were all invited to her new friends house and witnessed her threatening to hit everyone there including the adults (!), swinging punches and spitting etc! I was really shocked and taken aback. But since then, my LO has started doing the same to us. We have come down hard on her but she doesn't seem to care and just laughs - her friend did this too when she had her outburst.
We decided a few weeks ago to lessen contact and stop after school playdates as our parenting styles do not align and they prefer a very soft/gentle approach. Her parents are the sweetest people in the world btw and I think that's part of the problem as their kids appear to rule the roost.
My concern now is; how do we go about trying to engage teachers to put some distance between them at school, or if it has to come to, separate them completely. I'd love it if my daughter would also reunite with her previous friends who followed up from preschool and reception as she hasn't shown interest in them since this girl came along.
Please help. Am I fretting about nothing? I'd really appreciate any advice from anyone who has found themselves in a similar situation and how they came to resolve it. Thanks so much!