Your child wasn’t invited to the party – here’s how to handle the disappointment

Educational and child psychologist Dr Sasha Hall, who’s mum to a three-year-old boy and five-year-old girl, says the first thing to understand is that this scenario is “completely normal”.

“Unfortunately it’s going to happen to all our children at some point in our parenting journey,” she tells CBeebies Parenting Download.

Dr Hall says while it may be tempting to get involved, it is not helpful in the long term.

“We can’t remove all the obstacles, but we can give them the skills to manage,” she says. “It’s about building their resilience… what skills can we teach rather than change their outcomes?”

Comedian, author and mum-of-two Cariad Lloyd says it is a “rough” position for a child to find themselves in.

“When they’re little, it feels like first love… everything feels so heightened, especially with the party thing. Everyone gets not invited to somebody’s party.”