Sometimes I get so discouraged by the audacity of heartless people. My son has a friend who he adores. In fact, he considers this boy to be one of his best friends. He has begged me to set up play dates with him and has even said the friend is “like his brother.”
As “brothers” do, my son and his friend get into spats from time to time. According to their school teacher, the school year consisted of the two boys playing together regularly but with the need of little breaks from each other, too.
I have learned recently that the mother is trying to keep the boys apart and has ganged up a few other parents against my son. The other parents are Moms that we have never had any issues with with, and in fact, my son really has no relationship with their children.
My son has plenty of friends, but this one boy really does mean something to him. On the flip side, I believe that my son means something to the other boy, too. They care about each other, and it is the mother who has intervened. It is so disappointing to me that rather than helping the boys learn to problem solve a little better together, she has tried to end the friendship and keep the boys apart. Does she really believe that her son is an innocent party?
It is a hard lesson to teach a little boy that you can’t always make someone love you, and it is a lesson that we shouldn’t even have to teach him at this age. Thank goodness for his other friends who embrace him unconditionally. My song of the days is Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” because it seems these are words that even ring true to a 6-year-old. Click HERE to hear the beautiful song as we try to help my son through the loss of someone he cared for deeply.