Friendships at 5

Crazy 1 is now 5 years old, in kindergarten and already I am dealing with the I am your friend, I am not your friend issues with other children.

Crazy 1 likes everyone. I mean she truly likes everyone. There has never been anyone in her life that she has told me she does not like. I love this about her. When I ask her who her friends are at school, she lists everyone in her class. Girls first of course, but she even lists the boys.

A few months ago, there was an issue with one girl in her class, let's call her Girl 1, where she decided to inform Crazy 1 that she was not going to be friends with her on a particular day. This of course led to a meltdown at school as she is quite emotional. The Husband and I talked about it with her and I think she understood as best as she could that not everyone will like her.

A few days later, Girl 1 informed Crazy 1 that she would only be her friend if she wasn't friends with another girl, let's call her Girl 2. I was very proud of Crazy 1 that day. She let Girl 1 know that Girl 2 will always be her friend and walked away. Crazy 1 and Girl 2 seemed to bond right away at the beginning of the school year.

Now the issue is that at school, Girl 1 and Girl 2 have become partners in crime and tend to exclude Crazy 1, won't play with her, won't be her friend. There have been a few meltdowns over this at school and the teacher has stepped in to try and resolve some of it. Here is what I have done.

I told Crazy 1 that if she asks to play with Girl 2 and she says no, that's OK. Don't cry, just go and play with someone else. I don't care if she asks everyday, as long as she doesn't cry and just moves onto play with someone else. So far, most days, Girl 2 has not played with her, but there have been no more tears.

This part is hard for me as I want Crazy 1 to keep her innocence and be that trusting, liking little girl. It becomes difficult because I know that in life, not everyone will like you, and you won't really like everyone. A lesson I know she will have to learn someday, I was just hoping it would have been later, not sooner.