Is this a friend you had before having kids or is it someone you met through child related functions? Either way our friendships bend and stretch as our lives progress. I had a friend who I considered a close one before having children, but we were recent friends in that we only met about a year before we both got pregnant (2 months apart). I was ecstatic thinking how we would be able to share our experiences and for the first 6 months that was the case, but when my DD showed early on her less than normal ways it became abundantly clear that hard and competitive feelings were going to be par for the course. Our friendship suffered and I learned early on not to share that much with her but then I resented it because we could always share everything.
On the flip side: my closest and dearest friend who I have know for 20 years has been there through it all. She encouraged me to share and pointed out the differences so I would know it was okay to not hide them. She has never doubted DD;s abilities and when I talked about her possible level according to Ruf's definitions (which was hard for me to even bring up)I will never forget her response. "I don't know about the gifted levels you talk about but there is no mistake that that child is PG."
I guess I'm saying that we have some friends that we can openly share everything including our frustrations and let's face it ... we as a group will have many frustrations along the path of raising these unique children but also our joys. AND we will find that some of our friends won't be able to deal with this path so we have to make decisions: do we stay friends but censor our conversations? Some people can do that but I find it fake and I'm anything but fake.
