5 year old won’t join in/separation anxiety

[Pinkypiezz6970]

My 5 year old son won’t join in any of his group classes any more. He’s suddenly started running after me crying any time I try to leave him (including nursery and st my mum & dads). He’s always been hard work to try to get & get him to join in groups & at parties but we’d eventually got him going to a few things like swimming etc. I’ve had to cancel one of the classes as he got hysterical just leaving the house to go the last few times. I don’t want to force him & wdnt be able to any way as he ends up coming out crying, but I don’t want to stop going to things as feel like it might be even harder later trying again to get him to join in. Or should I just leave things for the minute & try later down the line as it’s not working at the minute? I think he’s scared of starting school this year - I’ve tried talking to him about it as much as possible and reading books about starting school - nursery also talks about school to try and get them ready for it. I just don’t know the best way to deal with this - I’ve ended up losing the plot with him a few times which I feel terrible about & it makes everything worse but I’m just so worried that he’s taken about 10 steps backward, I don’t want him to be scared to join in and not be a confident child. Can anyone give day advice? thanks

**ANY advice

My DD is a strong-willed child and she enjoys testing my limit all the time.

I had been reading a lot on parenting books and recently read this excellent one about how to get our kids to say "Yes" from Dr Daniel J Siegel.
bit.ly/2Y6KDaX

Following the principle of the book, I would say try to get him to talk and find out the real reasons for him not going for any of the class first. Then you can decide if it's a timing thing or it's something else.

Hope it helps.

Thanks yukuo, I’ll get a look at that. I do believe it’s genuine anxiety causing him to say his tummy is really hurting. It’s started first thing in the morning lying in bed and he’s just getting himself worked up at the thought of even going to nursery. Think it’s the mixing with groups / busy environment of nursery. I’ll look this book up, thanks for replying.