Waiting in line for a ride – and just as you reach the front, they put up the rope and tell you you’ll have to wait until next time.
The team captains are choosing players in kick ball and you’re the last person chosen out of the whole gym class.
They’re handing out Drumsticks and you’re the only one left not holding an ice cream cone.
Being left out sucks.
My kids are learning the hard way lately how being left out is lame. My 12-year-old daughter was crying the other night that (and stop me if you’ve heard this from a pre-teen before) “all my friends are going on field trips and I’m not and I feel really left out!” My 8-year-old son had a similar experience when his friends “fired him” from his club he and his buddies started at their day camp. And my 4-year-old complained about being the only kid not to get to have a friend over after school. Everyone is being left out one way or another.
All of us at some point have been left out. It sucks. And yet, it’s a lesson we all have to learn. Yeah, yeah, got that. But, how do you explain that to your kids? You just want to nuzzle them and hold them close and secretly call their so-called friends “jerks” in your head. But, how do you help your child through it?
What do you tell your children when they complain of being left out?
Mom Land 