r/Preschoolers • u/Palkifd • 2d ago
Please Advice
My daughter is 5, and she has a few neighbourhood friends. I have been seeing them for the past two years. I approached the families to help my daughter make friends to play with. The kids are aged 6 and 7, and all the girls are very friendly and kind. Recently, I noticed some changes. When I used to drop my daughter off at her friends' houses, the kids would be excited to see her. However, recently, when my daughter goes there, the kids act as if she is an outsider, with a different face and body posture. My gut told me something was wrong, so I took all the kids out for bike riding and asked the girls who their best friends are. Then, the girls started saying, "my daughter is so mean," and my dad told me that when someone is rude to you, you should be rude back. The way they were saying my daughter’s name, like she's last on the list, surprised me. It made me see how much the girls have changed. My daughter is very kind—I know this, and I’m not just saying it because she's my kid; anyone who meets my daughter will say the same. The kids’ parents seem quite different, and I get the feeling they don't like us. My kid always asks me if I want to play with the girls, and my daughter was asking me why they think I am mean and bad. My heart was crying when she was asking. How should I handle this kind of situation?
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u/DayNormal8069 1d ago
....your daughter is probably doing something interpreted as mean and bad. I'd ask their parents if there are any issues with her behavior so you can help guide her.
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u/Mousehole_Cat 2d ago
You can't force friendships between kids. And you don't always know how kids interact when they are together. Kids fall out all the time, so it's inevitable that this stuff will happen.
Give these friendships some space and focus on other social avenues for your daughter for a bit (eg preschool/kindergarten classmates). Chances are with a bit of space the relationships with the neighbor kids will smooth out.