Jealousy

[Mum7Mum]

My child age 9 is having difficulty with her best friend from school. They are great friends and have been for a couple of years. Her best friend idolises my daughter but probably a bit too much. The issue appears to be with my daughter having other friends. The friend from school tells her she can only have one best friend where my daughter has a few besties from home and gaa etc and the school best friend also constantly makes comments when my daughter’s talks about or plays with her other friends. Other children have started noticing and are getting involved by defending my daughter saying she can have more than one friend. The child from her class is a nice child but it is effecting my daughter as she feels bad and is always trying to reassure her friend but at age nine I feel this is a bit much. Any advice on how I should deal with this is appreciated.

It’s difficult…. Our days at school are often spent trying to sort these kind of problems!( I’m a TA) Generally, we encourage children to have more than one ‘special friend’ as sooner or later the BFF thing causes problems, ( especially when it’s the parents that are the friends , but the kids really don’t like each other!).
I can only suggest that she tries to include her where possible, but tell her she is right to have more than one friend. Friendships come and go so often, it is much better to have a wide circle of friends that you can turn to than feeling miserable because one person has a hold on you.