It’s all too easy for your child to get sucked into any drama that’s happening with their friends. Disagreements happen in friendship groups and your child may be asked to take sides, or get asked for their opinion on what happened, which can be very awkward and difficult to avoid.
Children may worry that they are going to say the wrong thing and they may come home unhappy and stressed because of the friendship drama and not knowing what to do about it. They don’t want to fall out with their friends, especially when the drama has nothing to do with them and most children would rather stay away from it all. So what can they do about it?
TIPS FOR DEALING WITH FRIENDSHIP DRAMA
Parents can help their children by:
- Chatting with them about it so they can help them to gain a different perspective on what is going on.
- They can suggest to their child that they tell their friends that they don’t want to take sides and not have any part of the fallout conversations. The drama is between them and them only.
- Suggesting they move away from the drama and see how it unfolds without any involvement. It may fizzle out and, even if it doesn’t, at least they have stayed out of it.
- Advising them to move towards other friends who are more easygoing and they like spending time. They may have certain friends who are always involved in drama, so finding calmer friends could be a good move.
Parents can chat through these ideas with their children so they can make the right decision for themselves. It may be that new friendships are formed where there is more calmness. Perhaps their friendship group is a little ‘toxic’ and it would help your child to be aware of that. There may be friendship drama around being dumped by their friends without knowing the reason why.
Drama can be found everywhere in the school playground. Parents, being there to make suggestions is the best idea. Getting involved is not so good. Here are some do’s and don’ts.
For more information on friendships and how to help your child download my friendship ebook.
You can also read more blogs about children and friendships here.
[Published Nov 2021 | Updated January 2025]
