My DS is 10 years old. He has a small group of friends at school but I am told he is popular.
He has had problems with bullying at school for a number of years and I have tried to support him. He does seem to be quirky and different in comparison to his class mates. He is a deep thinker, introverted and has surreal humour - which sometimes I don't even understand . I am not sure if the bullying came before his isolation; or whether he has always been like that and the bullies just comment on it.
What I see at home is someone who prefers to play alone rather than with other children. Sometimes he can watch other kids play for some time without getting involved. He has no outside friends to speak of. When he does play it seems to be for a short time and then he makes his excuses and comes away; even if the other kids are still up for further activities. I have asked him if he would like friends to come home from school or scouts and he just replies 'I don't want to'. He has quite exacting standards as far as friendships go which I think is down to the damage created by the ongoing bullying.
I am not sure whether I should let things come in their own time (whilst encouraging to be proud of being different) or to try to create opportunities for engagement anyway.
I want him to build up his trust in friends again and just enjoy being young.
What would you do in my situation?
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To Want My DS to Be more Sociable?
8 replies
JohFlow · 02/09/2013 23:25
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