I have a lovely 5 year old boy. He’s sweet, cuddly, generally behaves well, gets on well at school and loves to laugh and joke around. He doesn’t really have tantrums, seems to handle his emotions well (for his age) and is fairly amiable. However, he loves rough and very physical play. He is the tallest in his class and strong. He’s constantly playing punching and fighting games with friends. It seems to be a mutual thing (the other children don’t seem upset and it appears to be part of games they play), but because he’s a lot bigger he knocks children flying at times. Another mum commented that her son, mine and another were playing “hit each other in the privates” at play time, and I got the feeling she thought my son was the instigator (he might have been). Part of me thinks it’s daft play, but another part is worried I should be doing something to stop this type of physical play. We do talk constantly about not punching and pushing, but whenever he is with his friends they seem to get carried away and the rough play starts again. For those of you with older children, is this normal? Any helpful strategies?