How to help shy four year old

[jacksgrannie]

Our dgs is quite a shy child. He had a happy time at full-time nursery with quite a few friends, but has had difficulty making friends since they moved house last year. He is the youngest in his reception class (August birthday) and although doing well with his school work (seems quite bright, good at reading/numbers etc) seems to be on his own a lot. He did have a couple of friends earlier on, but these seem to be isolating him now. Ddil (who is quite worried) has tried him with football training and also other classes, but he says he is too shy to join in. He does enjoy his swimming lessons though.

Any suggestions on how we can help him to make friends - one problem seems to be that most of the children in his class already knew each other from pre-school whilst he is a new-comer.

i think it's quite common tbh! my little boy is the same, and almost prefers to play by himself, in fact he complained to me yesterday that the teacher makes him go out to play when sometiems he wants to be by himself! lol

if your DDIL is worried though then she can always speak to his teacher and ask them what they think. my son often tells me he never plays with anyone, but the teacher has a different story.

also, she could find out if there is anyone he likes, even if he doesn't know them that well, and invite them over for some playdates so that he can get to know them better

Thanks for your reply. DDIL did speak to his teacher yesterday, who was surprised because she thinks DGS is quite popular in class. She is working on asking some children back for tea and play after school. I think I worry more about him than about my own children tbh - we used to just muddle along in those days.