My Daughter's Best Friend is Moving Away.

[Popbiscuit]

10 year old DD is very upset and I just don't know how to comfort her . The girls have been inseparable for a few years now and although we've encouraged DD to diversify and have lots of different friends, these two have had a really special attachment (bf lives across the street). DD is devastated.

I went through the same thing at her age and can remember the pain of saying goodbye to a really good friend but everything I say seems to be just wrong.

Anyone been through this recently? Any tips?

How far away is away? Will future playdates be impractical?

At that age, would they like to set up emails/letter writting to each other to keep in touch? It might make everything seem a bit less final even if things do naturally fade out after a while.

we had this a few years ago. Hooray for Msn, facetime and skype.! they are now 13 and still very close. we managed to get back to the Uk a couple of times a year which helped.
have to admit some days were awful. both sets of parents encouraged them both to make new friends which was more successful for my DD than the friend.

Thanks for your replies I know it will get easier with time; we're still just in the "raw" stage I suppose. The move is to another province so a plane trip would be required to visit, unfortunately.

Skype and e-mail will make things easier, definitely. All we had were letters and pictures when I was 10!

My DD is going through this right now. I'm hoping that she can keep in touch with the friend who's moved abroad by email/skype. It's so much easier in these high tech days.

I'm also encouraging my DD to build on her other friendships with playdates. It seems to be helping take her mind off her 'loss' so far.