Navigating birthday parties and social events as a young child can be tough, especially if the people you thought were your friends decide not to invite you to their party.
That's the scenario one eight-year-old girl is facing after one of her friends invited all the girls in their class to her birthday party, but left her out - making her the only one not going.
The girl's mum explained it was "heartbreaking" to see her child so upset when she came home from school, as she claimed her friend - whom the mum gave the fake name 'Emma' to protect her identity - told her that their mums would need to speak to each other to see if she could go to the party.
However, when the day of the party rolled around on Saturday, there had been no contact from Emma's mum, meaning the little girl had to stay at home.
In a post on Mumsnet, the mum said: "I'm a little upset and wondering if I should say something to this mum or just leave it as I usually do. I have never had any confrontations with any of the mums ever so it's a new territory for me to even think about texting this mum!
"My daughter is friends with another little girl and they are both in Year 4. My daughter came home upset on Friday saying all the girls in class have been invited to a party on Saturday and 'Emma's' mum will call me later to give details as Emma [needed to] ask her mum if my daughter can come.
"She kept asking me every few minutes on Friday evening and Saturday morning if she had called. It was so heartbreaking. I'm socially awkward but my daughter is the complete opposite and loves going to parties but never gets invited. She really thought 'Emma' would invite her.
"I'm thinking of texting the mum with a heads up that my daughter might ask her tomorrow and maybe we can arrange a playdate or something along those lines.
"Just for context my daughter is having a birthday party next month and I'm inviting the entire class."
Commenters on the post sympathised with the mum and agreed that texting the other girl's mum was a good idea, as long as she made it clear she understands that "not everyone can be invited" to the party.
One person said: "I'm sorry, this must be really upsetting. I think it's OK to text her this. I'd probably explain the conversation the girls had and make it clear that you understand that not everyone can be invited but given the conversation and misunderstanding, maybe a play date might be a nice thing to do."
But others said texting the mum would just make the situation worse, and that the best thing to do would be to help her daughter through the disappointment as best she can.
Someone wrote: "I totally understand why your daughter is feeling so upset (and that you feel heartbroken for her) but kids don't always get invited to everything that they want to go to and I think as parents we just have to support them through the disappointment, hard though it is."
As someone else added: "Really hard to see your kid so upset but I don't think texting the mum is the right thing at all. Keep it breezy with your daughter - it's so heartbreaking but I think important she doesn't see it bothers you."
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