My son had the confidence knocked out of him

[purpleshortcake]

I have boy / girl twins who have just turned 4. They have always been happy, confident, sociable kids despite my son being a bit slower to "get" things (potty training, pedalling etc). No SN but they were born at 27 weeks so hD development delay. They have attended private nursery for over 2 years and did a term at the school nursery before the summer and have recently returned for a new term at the school nursery z

In the last 24 hours my son has frequently become upset, wanting to abandon several activities stating "I am rubbish at painting", I am rubbish at "football", "am rubbish at playdoh". This happened about half a dozen times. Obviously I reassured him he is not "rubbish" and asked him and his sister who had been saying he was rubbish. They told me children at school are calling them "rubbish" and "nasty".

I feel so upset, there is a real mix at school and some quite rough families but not sure if there are a couple of children who are quite vocal / verging on bullying or if this is just a natural stage kids go through when they start interacting with kids that are "better" than them at certain things. Any tips for dealing with this? Responses to use with my son ..and should I mention it to the school?

My heart is breaking for him.

[VioletBam]

It is natural to some extent....they do begin to compare and judge somewhat which is always a shame.

But you do need to speak to his teachers so that they can not only keep an eye on this sort of talk but also boost DS up a bit.

My DD had similar and her teacher encouraged me to encourage her to bring things from home that she'd done....and these were put on the wall and "bigged up"

Your son's teacher might have a different way of dealing with it but there SHOULD be some way to help him.

You can encourage him to shine in what he enjoys most.

[purpleshortcake]

Thanks Violet. Thankfully it seems to have been a passing phase. He enjoyed his football training this week without any comments that he "was rubbish". Maybe he was just having a bad week..bless him!

[DollyBarton]

It's scary when they start saying these things!