Does anyone else have few friends to have playdates with and end up feeling bad for child?

[cher1990]

My wee boy is 3 and a half.. and is at surestart literally 4 hours altogether each week.. thats it... so hes losing out on socialising with other kids because of the covid restrictions meaning less hours at surestart.. I have few friends as I dont get out much..even though im friendly etc i find it hard to make friends or get contacts details etc any advice?

Does he go to nursery or a childminder?

Yes, I think nursery or groups might be a good idea? If he's planning on going to a conventional brick school soon, that will also reduce your need to have friends to upkeep his social life.

Would recommend having a look on Facebook in your local area and seeing if there are any groups for playdates (monitored ones of course!)

I am very much in this situation, when nurseries were open, DD, 3, I felt had good social time for the days she went in, but now they are closed I feel very guilty for not having close parent friends. I have phone number of 2 parents that have children in same nurseries, but feel I bit awkward in arranging playdates especially as they have more than one child, so it is difficult to arrange a good time to meet and it's so cold out! And they have closer friends to contact. I don't have any family around either, DD has cousins her age but we haven't been able to see them in over year and have tried facetime but it's not really same DD soon gets too restless.

I have an only child & also feel guilty that I don’t have many friends, and no local ones with kids similar age to mine.
But she’s at nursery so gets to socialise still.
And looking back, I used to resent the kids I was “forced” to play with because my mum was friends with theirs and made my own friends at school.