DS is 10 (year 5) and since nursery he has had the same best friend. For the past 6 years whenever I asked who he’d played with it was always only best friend. He does have other friends and I see him playing with them at clubs, in the playground and he does get invited to a few of their birthday parties etc. One of the other friends he spends time with out of school however I have become friends with his Mum so I’m unsure if this is why he gets invited.

Year 5 has been difficult friendship wise for DS, he and best friend are no longer best friends. They still get on ok most of the time but DS is very black & white about a lot of thing, he knows his mind which I love but can be difficult to compromise on some things. He’s very well behaved at school, always the “class role model” on reports etc and this last year he’s started becoming frustrated at a group of boys who are very disruptive in class. Best friend is one of these and I’m sure this has affected the friendship as DS tells him he’s being disruptive. It doesn’t seem like they’ll go back to being best frienda, it’s been 6 months now and they seem to have little in common now and barely speak out of football at school.

DS has other friends as I said and does play out with some but he has started to become upset that he isn’t invited to as many friends houses as his friends are. We’ve tried inviting some here but they already have plans with others or sleepovers and I’m just feeling sad for him.

I know DS can be bossy at times, he’s very mature in his interests too and likes coding which only one of his friends likes. He’s into football though. Any advice on what I can do to help him? When they go to high school the class will be split up between 2 high schools due to catchment and best friend won’t be at his so I’m hoping to help him secure new friends as well as maintain that friendship.