How to help my 5 yr old ds make friends?!

[rosybell]

My lovely 5 yr old ds is In Year one, and just has never really made any friends. He plays a lot with a couple of girls In His class who are very sweet, but watching them when they come for play dates, I really think ds would love some boy friends. They were not remotely interested in the spaceships and Lego ds was excitedly showing them!

I do try and arrange play dates which is tough as I work. He is just so shy. I think I need to work on his confidence but no idea where to start. It doesn't help that he is an end of august baby so all they boys are bigger.

Any ideas or reassurances about children developing friendships after yr one?!

Children do friendships in different ways - be careful not to put your ideas of what his friends, or friendships, should be like, on to him.
I'm not sure why you feel he struggles with friends, when you say he plays a lot with 2 particular friends?

Don't worry he will find his feet in time honestly

Don't interfere too much. DD struggled but manages. She's a young one and not interested in dolls and quiet play. And the boys aren't that interested in her. But she's found a few.

Messing with it just fails. Do make friends with other parents and have play dates when he finds friends.

Agree with PP - don't stress too much and don't make he think something is 'wrong' but play dates can't hurt

Does he do any activities or clubs either at or outside school? Cubs/sport/after school club. It's a good way to connect with people if you have a shared interest. Might help his confidence too if you think he struggles with it.

My ds is in yr 2 and is starting to form a good friendship group based on their love of sport. Before then he'd happily mix up playing with lots of different kids. He also does a sport outside of school which I think can be good for them to develop friendships away from school.

Possibly see if he would like to have a pal over for tea after school??

Does the teacher have any concerns? If he plays well with other kids at school but just doesn't have special "friends" then I don't see a problem. Maybe he just isn't ready for that yet. If he struggles to interact then that might be more of a concern.

It will be ok OP....lots of them at this age don't have a special friend. They're very little still and especially the summer born boys.

If you like you could ask the teacher which little boys might be a good bet to ask over for a play. She will have noticed which boys are friendly or which ones your DS has had a nice time with in the past.

Set thingnis to stop fretting and give him space to make friends he wants rather than engineering.