I’m watching my son at his sport group. He’s 9. For some reason today a girl in the group, also about 9, is being quite unkind to him, flicking his ear etc. he just ignored it and moved away. Normally I would have stepped in and told her to stop. However I was very aware today that 2 older (guessing 13 years old ish) boys had started the group. So I held back from ‘defending’ him as I worried that it maybe he is now at an age where it isn’t helpful to have your mum sticking her nose in to minor issues in group situations.
I think my plan is to obviously watch and see how it goes and step in if needed ,but to also watch for how he manages the situation and speak to him about how to manage these situations later away from the group.
just wondered what people thought are on helping children of this age and older in dealing with irritating or unkind behaviour. Am I right to be wary about stepping in and embarrassing him or taking away his chance to manage it? He is my oldest so I’m just considering how to change my approach appropriate to his age. Obviously when they are younger it feels more appropriate to step in earlier in conflicts.