Yesterday, Nathan had to leave a playdate early because he and his friend had a large fight. They managed to both hurt each other's feelings quite badly and the mom asked me to come over to help resolve it before sending Nathan home.
Nathan was incredibly disappointed. He doesn't have many friends and was devastated when this child said they didn't want to be his friend anymore (they were just upset and didn't mean it, but it still struck home). Add in cancelling the playdate and he was certain he'd just lost one of his friends, no matter what I said.
I think I got it sorted out. We talked about how feelings can get hurt and how everyone has extra sensitive spots. For Nathan, that's being alone. We roleplayed other ways that Nathan could have dealt with the initial conflict without hurting his friend's feelings. We went over the rules for fighting (no yelling, no name-calling, no hitting). We talked over ways that he could deal with his feelings being hurt (That hurt my feelings. I need a break.)
We've got the playdate rescheduled for next week. Hopefully it goes smoother.
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