DS(7) crying cos he's no good at football

[debbie27]

Hi there, was wondering what any thoughts are on my DS. He's 7 years old and was crying the other night because he is no good at football. He generally isnt a "sporty" type, has no co-ordination whatsoever when it comes to any sport. Most boys we know play football but he refuses to join in as he's afraid of getting hurt/tripped over. He's starting to be by himself at playtime. He's a very sensitive boy and has always been hard work as he is sooo dramatic. As soon as he does a bad kick at the ball he runs off crying and screaming and gets very angry (he's always done this but thought it might wear off as he gets older!). We always praise him etc and obviously have never told him he's bad at it, we encourage with praise at things he is good at, but it never seems to make any difference. He was having tantrums in pe the other day and was crying in the class and goes into complete meltdown. He's generally a popular boy at school with nice friends, but this negativity is so hard to deal with. I wonder whats the best way to deal, ignore it, some kind of star chart, or to just reassure him that he's not bad at it???? Im just at a loss on what to do to make him feel better about himself.

[moaninlisa]

My DS aged 8 is much the same totally non sporty- much like myself- he used to go to an after school football club but cried when anyone tackled him- he doesn't like PE either however we took him for swimming lessons and he has a real flare for it so finally he has found a sport he likes and is good at.

Like your DS he is a bit of a drama queen at times- and like your DS he has dropped some of his friends because they play football at playtimes- I just keep trying to keep the friendships going with play dates and cinema outings etc-

We had 'enjoyaball' in this area too which was great when he was younger it's non competitive sports and games and he used to love that -I don't think he realised it was a sporty activity.

Try to keep his friendships going the other boys must do other things aside from football- lego cinema computer games even just invite them round for tea,keep trying other sporty things he has maybe just not found his niche- ice skating , swimming maybe tennis?

Some people just aren't sporty- the only sport I like is walking so I just make sure I do loads of it to keep fit.

Speak to teacher about the PE -

Good luck