My daughter is 16 years old and has a best friend since they were 6 years old. My daughter’s best friend has a boyfriend for approx 1 year and my daughter is starting to feel left out / feel like she is the 3rd wheel. Her bestie is constantly kissing / hugging / being close with the boyfriend at school lunch breaks and if they aren’t together they are always snap chatting. My daughter is the one to start messaging her friend to ask how she is or to organise catching up outside of school ect.
My daughter and her best friends boyfriend talk occasionally and she said he is a nice person but is just struggling. Her and her friend have been through a lot together when they both got bullied and were alienated when they started high school they stood by each other when other kids we nasty to them.
My daughter doesn’t want to loose her best friend and she doesn’t know how to tell her friend how she feels without making her friend feel bad.
My daughter always cares about how other people feel and doesn’t want to hurt anyone.
3 Replies
Your daughter should use this as an opportunity to widen her social network so she isn't relying on one friend to fill all her needs.
Her best friend is no doubt "madly in love" and her behaviour is pretty normal for a 16 year old with her first bf.
Your daughter could may be join some clubs at school in areas of interest and find some friends that way or even via extracurricular activities.
Start hanging out with other people. If your daughter has more friends, she can feel more confident in putting her time and staying in situations where she actually feels comfortable. Im sure if the balance was better, then she wouldn’t mind her bf being all over her boyfriend ‘sometimes!’. No one really enjoys it though, GF is going to learn she’ll lose friends if she goes googoo over her BFs and doesn’t keep up effort for her friendships.
People drift apart and the boyfriend thing is so common. Start an activity or get her a job. Best way to make new friends.