Frenemies-age 5?????

[user1488799502]

Hi,
We have a slight situation brewing between my son and a friend of his at school. My son is an only child and gets very attached to other kids when they show interest in wanting to be friends. He can a little too overenthusiastic, trying to monopolise the friends time at parties and being a bit ‘in your face’ etc. We have spoken to him about this and he does take it on boar...sometimes.

There is 1 friend who shows signs of wanting to besties, inviting my son round for play dates but then at parties when other kids are about the friend wants nothing to do with my son, it’s upsetting to see him confused and upset when one minute the other boy wants to be best friends and the next completely rejects him.

I know we can’t stop other people hurting him but any tips on how to help my son deal with this??? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Relationships between five year olds are very very fluid. I certainly would not be using the term frenemies that's a way over reaction. Nor would I be thinking about "besties". Children normally don't develop close friendships till they are older. Age five they are at an exploratory stage of friendship making and friendships will shift and change. So I think you need to shift your thinking and your expectations away from the extremes of frenemies and besties and let your child make friends naturally. Your son sounds like he needs help with his social skills you could ask the teacher about this, e.g they have a lunch club for kids who need help with that at our school. Do you perhaps struggle with friendships yourself?
Let things unfold, support your child to develop better social skills and a wide network of friends e.g invite other friends to play as well as the "bestie".