playgroup meanies??

[sliceofcake]

My DS (3.3) has just told me that some boys at playgroup have been saying they won't play with him, pushing him, and trying to make him cry
He is quite a gentle little boy, and I hate the thought of kids being mean to him, but know he needs to learn to look after himself as well. Now, he did get a bit vague at one point, so may not even be completely true, but what do i say to him? Should he push back (and potentially hurt someone, be as bad as them etc) or just leave them to it? I told him to tell them he didn't want to play with them anyway, and to tell a grown up if they were pushing him, but I feel awful thinking of them being mean to him. Any advice?

My ds is 3.10yrs and often says the same as your ds. Its hard not to get emotional about it but its what happens at school unfortunently and they are still learning how to interact with each other socially.

Are there any children he does play with? we encourage ds to play with the children he knows he likes playing with, and also ask a teacher for help if someone pushes him and he doesn't like it. I think its about instilling some 'coping' strategies. I personally won't encourage him to push back - I have 2 younger ds's and it would just mean he'd do it at home as well as he would see that as acceptable.

Maybe you could speak to the playgroup leader, I asked ours about one particular boy ds was always saying pushed him and it turned out he is the same with several other children and 'not a good mix' with ds so they also encourage them to play seperately. Maybe they could do the same for your ds?

I think teaching him to say stop it!! loudly would help and to walk away....failing that he needs to learn how to thump .

thanks for these - am speaking to the playgroup leader today to see if they are aware of it, and to make sure they look out for it. DH and I are going to talk to him again later on - didn't want to go on about it last night so will bring it up again this am.