283: ENCORE: Best of Ask Lisa: Friendship Breakups & Conflict

Your kid comes home devastated after being left out, dropped, or caught in the middle of a friendship blowup. You may want to help, but don’t know what to say—or whether you should step in at all. Take heart: this episode will help you navigate the situation with confidence.

In this encore “Best of Ask Lisa” compilation, Dr. Lisa Damour has curated her most essential guidance on friendship conflict, bullying, and social drama — the stuff that can make the tween and teen years so painful for kids and so hard to watch as a parent. Whether your child is being targeted by peers, doing the excluding, or trying to navigate a friendship that's run its course, you'll walk away knowing exactly what to say and how to help them through it with calm, clarity, and compassion.

💡 YOU'LL LEARN:

- The crucial difference between bullying and conflict, and why getting this distinction right will change how you respond

- Why middle schoolers are so prone to cruelty, and how anxiety about belonging makes meanness a fast track to social power

- How excluding, icing out, and rumor-spreading work as a form of relational aggression — and why kids sometimes gang up to push someone out

- Why social behaviors that used to peak in 7th and 8th grade are now showing up in 9th and 10th grade, and what the pandemic has to do with it

- What to actually say to your kid when they've been left out or dropped, including how to offer a sense of perspective without dismissing how awful it feels

Social challenges are some of the most painful experiences of adolescence. But there’s a lot you can do to help.

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