Today was the last day of school (stay tuned for my Smartmom column this Friday on this topic).

OSFO was very sad when she found out that she won’t be in the same class as her best friend Emmy.

She looked terribly disappointed after school. The two are still planning to walk to school together unassisted by parents next fall.  (We parents will be hovering in the background most likely).

I tried to convince OSFO that she would still see a lot of Emmy and that she’d make new friends in the class next year.

As I write this I see that I didn’t really let her have her feelings. I kept trying to fix it, comfort her, or make her see it my way. I should have just listened and sympathized.

It was on her mind until early evening. She was happy to hear that two of her friends will be in the class with her. But she still worried. What if they’re not? What if it’s a mistake?  Are they really in the new class with me?

When your children worry you just want to make it better like putting a Bandaid on a boo boo. Kiss it and make the pain go away. But that’s not always possible. She needs to feel this stress, this worry, this pain. It won’t go away (poof) just because I want it to.

I hope she feels better tomorrow. But if she doesn’t it’s okay. She feels strongly about the kids she was friends with this year. She doesn’t want to leave them. And she has to. I will let her mourn this loss and then move on.

She’ll be fine in the long run but this is a big deal right now.