Social skills in only children

[Rosesinmyhair]

I was called into preschool about my only a few weeks ago and it is playing on my mind - is this related to him being an only (he is at the younger end of the year also). Your thoughts would be much appreciated!

[Rosesinmyhair]

Sorry - should have said - the teacher said he was behind in social skills and sort of "stood out". All the other children in the class, except my ds and another one have an older sibling

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I would guess that it's at least as much to do with his being a boy and young in the cohort - boys do tend [disclaimer: on average] to lag behind girls and the lack of siblings is a red herring.

How does the preschool intend to help your son? And did the teacher say or imply that his difficulties were due to being an only child, as I would have been rolling my eyes at that.

[oxeye]

I woudl say gah to it being an only child thing. Too easy to label. Second Maud, what positive help were they offering?

[Billy11]

i am an only child and my daughter till august will be an only child and is always the youngest because of her august bday ..very sociable actually only plays up when there is no one to play with .....
im an only child ...we are all different but im more outgoing then most people as i feel i need to find people to be friends with more as there are no sibblings....
so at a young age boys usually are a bit shy etc...im sure he will pick it all up soon

[BsshBossh]

I was an only child, my 4yo DD is an only and both of us were/are very sociable. However, both of us were surrounded by lots of other children from an early age.

[Emmielu]

What a load of donkey kack! That's the most idiotic excuse I've ever heard. Makes me wonder what her comments are to parents of children without a mother on mothers day.

Your son is fine! He's probably just shy & prefers 1:1 instead of group activities.

[wonkylegs]

All kids are different. My summer born only DS is really loud & sociable, our neighbours DS who is 6months older but the youngest of 4 - is the quiet shy one.
Different personalities are what makes them interesting. As long as your DS is happy, I wouldn't worry. If he's not, you need to work with the school to work out how to amend this so ask the teacher how she thinks this can be achieved.