Bingo mom2cassie... my daughter and yours are absolutely same!

Here's what worked for me:

My daughter was youngest in her class (in 2011) ie. in a session of July-June born kids, my daughter was April born. Her school promotes composite classes, which further complicated the problems! Youngest yr5 girl sitting with older yr6 students in class!!

I never realised all this, until one of my collegues mentioned that her daughter wasn't able to get along with her peers too (being youngest in class). Thereby, they requested school to let her drop a year (as she wasn't doing well in studies too). It solved their problem!!!

When my daughter came in yr6 (2012), she got rid of older (swearing) kids at school and got the chance to sit with yr5 students for a year. She gelled very well with them in class. Yep! It helped her heaps!! She got her confidence back and improved her grades a lot. She would spend her break with her Yr5 friends.

I still remember...when she was in Yr 2 or 3, just to know if she has any friends at school or not, I would ask her, "Darling, what did you do during break, today?" and she would reply "Just wandered around.."

Now that she is in High School, Yr7, I was really worried for her, how she would manage, and the fear of dealing with older kids again!! But so far, she is doing very well and yeah, i have been telling her not to be very sensitive and try and ignore all negative feelings.

I would suggest you to try making your daughter friends with a year younger kids. Though, not every story has same ending, but its worth trying for the sake of bringing smiles to our sweethearts' life.

Good Luck to all those parents reading this. Trust me, you are not alone and I know how it feels. Just be supportive, to ur kids. Now on, I ll pray for all of us :)

Hi there,  

As I read your question, it seemed like I wrote it myself.  I have a 12 year old daughter who is stuggling to make friends as well.  Once middle school started, her world seemed to fall apart.  A big problem is that all her "neighbor friends" are still in elementary school.  And, they have seemed to abandon her now that she's in middle school.  Plus, she is immature for her age, and doesn't feel like she belongs with the older girls at middle school.  She says they are into boys and "insta gram" and she still wants to play outside and even likes to play with her stuffed animals.  She's not interested in boys and doesn't particularly care for social networks.  Before middle school, she was involved in dance, gymnastics, soccer, girl scouts, etc.  Now, she dropped out of all of these activies, except summer soccer, and says she feels like she's alone and that nobody likes her.  I'm heart-broken and desperate to fix this for her somehow.  Would love to bounce ideas off each other if you're up to it?  I'm in MN.  Thanks much!

I am amazed that there are so many comments on this topic! I am a certified teacher and have pulled all my children out of public school to homeschool.  It has nothing to do with the education...the kids are terrible.  My two youngest hold their own but my oldest is a rare bird.  She is uber smart, a national gymnast, but can't stand most girls.  She can't even get along with the girls on her team, however she does fine with the boys though.  She is almost 16 and I have no idea what to do.  She is VERY black and white and a severe rule follower, which does not help with her peers. One counselor told us she is just too mature for her age in some respects. I am homeschooling the girls and that is working well, but I agree with everyone else, your heart just breaks for your kids.  If you teach your kids to have integrity and character they are doomed...that's a sad change in our society.  I wish there were a safe way to create a website where our kids could meet other kids in the same predicament. We placed my son in a all boys prep school for high school just to get him away from it all.  I know they can't run from it, but what else do you do when people don't parent their kids.  Teachers deal with these situations too, when we are in the parent role. If anyone comes up with a solution please post.  Someone start thinking about a way to create a safe website!

I cant beleive what I am reading! It sounds like I wrote this myself. My daughter is 11 with the same thing. All the teachers say she is apleasure to have around. The kids say they like her but no one will accept her, they actually run from her. She is very pretty I dress her in all the up to date fassions. She is in dance, swiming etc. but still no friends. My heart is also breaking over this. Please let me know if you find out where to get help!