My 5 year old is SO BOSSY I think he is losing friends

[manicmama]

My 5 year old is a bit of a control freak and loves to be in charge of other people. He is constantly telling his younger brother what to do and also tries to do this with his friends. Unsurprisingly, kids do not want to play with him for long and then he gets really upset. He is unwilling to play by himself and wants constant interaction and attention. Help!

How can I nip this in the bud? Any ideas?

my dd was the same in reception, so much so it was mentioned at parents evening. A few quiet chats and having some friends back to play for a bit of one to one seemed to help. Her poor db is still bossed around by her though

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I have been having lots of gentle one to one chats with him but nothing seems to be sinking in. I will just have to persevere.

DD can be like this too. I like that she knows what she wants, and can express herself, but don't like it when it tips into bossy/control freak territory.

If I tell her not to be so bossy with friends, then she is simply bossed by them instead! So, recently I've started explaining the idea of taking turns with ideas and games. Hopefully it will sink in so that sometimes she gets what she wants, and sometimes her friends get what they want too.

Would a version of that work with yours?