My daughter is in 7th grade. We left a private school for homeschooling for 2 years. This year I put her back in public. She started this new adventure with an old friend. They were very close from 1st grade to 4th when they fell out a little. During homeschooling they got close again. There had been alot of drama while we were gone and everyone was blaming this girl, but I didn't believe it.
My daughter has been a specific type of dancer since Kindergarten (Irish Step Dance) it's unique and very special to her. She works incredibly hard at it and has alot of pride about it.
3 months ago the friend started taking classes, initially saying it was to improve her footwork for tennis. Well now she is always talking about it, telling people they dance together, having her Mom buy all the stuff (that my daughter had to earn through years of hard work) and just overall invading into a world that was special and personal for my daughter.
It may seem petty but it's really bothering her. It bothers me too in that it feels like an invasion. There's really nothing I can do about it but I'm struggling with what to tell my daughter.
I will add, there's alot of other nonsense too. Trying to drag her into boy and online drama etc. In a few short months I've realized I was wrong about her and now we feel stuck.
Thoughts?
Thanks for all the input. I was definitely not very descriptive in my post, because it's hard to explain really. There's a lot to it and she doesn't enjoy the friendship anymore because she's not much for drama, social media etc... The friend has lots of other friends and activities. I don't necessarily have a problem with her taking up dance, but my daughter is FEELING invaded. It's genuinely upsetting her. She treats her like the "sidekick" and is very dominating in the friendship. I think my daughter is feeling this entering into the world that was her own special place. Make sense? She FEELS that the girl only wants it because she doesn't want my daughter to have something special that's only hers. I can't change any of this for her, but I guess I'm struggling with telling her to stop complaining and be happy about it, or telling her that her feelings are valid.
I've encouraged her to expand on the new friendships she's developed and to just try to ignore it. The good news is this overall new adventure into middle school has been pretty good so far. That's why this is a bit puzzling how much this is upsetting her 😕 but I get it at the same time.