nobody for my ds to play with I feel awful

[ghostfreak]

Hi
My ds who is 7 is an only and although he always seems happy enough he never has anybody to play with at home.

There never seems to be any other children playing out in our street. I am aware of a couple of children who live much further up our street but I never see them out.

I don,t have any friends with children and there are no cousins etc he can play with.
I myself am extremely shy which doesn,t help.

I beat myself up day after day for him being an only and for having nobody to play with.

I hate school holidays as I feel so much worse about it.

My ds is quite sociable at school and he does have friends back for tea on school days, I have also arranged for a couple of his mates from school to come over during the easter holidays he is also going to one of his mates next week.

But is this enough really for my ds.
I also wish that other parents at the school were more forthcoming with this sort of thing as I seem to be the only one that thinks of trying to arrange these playdates.

I don't want to apppear desperate for my ds to have someone to play with.

Does anybody else have an only and feel like me.

OK first of all, what do you do in the holidays. Do you work or are you at home with your ds?

since your kid has friends and some playdates don't keep reproaching yourself. if you hang out at playgrounds/soft plays regularly, then you might form some superficial friendships with the mums whilst your kids play together. Or could you send your DS to activities outside school - cubs/swimming/drama/karate whatever floats his boat, to see if that gets him more social opportunities.

Hang on a bit. Your DS is sociable, he has friends at school and they come on playdates at your home. That's very good.

Perhaps your expectations of playing out in the street are unrealistic?

You could take your DS to scouts-type groups an evening a week?

Frankly, more than that would be too much IMO.

I work 2 nightshifts a week.
The rest of the time I am at home.

I do have problems motivating my ds to go to the park, soft play, etc.
I did enroll him at beavers but it became a battle getting him to go.

He goes to swimming lessons and doesn,t seem to mind that.

My ds only seems interested in things at school, rather than anything out of school.

I have asked him about going to those holiday schemes but he always says he does not want to go.

I find it quite awkward doing the running all of the time trying to arrange playdates.

sorry just did a name change

You must be getting some invitations back from those playdates as well, surely?

I have had a couple but most of them haven,t bothered.

My ds has one close friend at school who has been to our house many times but my ds has never recieved an invite back.

My ds keeps asking this friends mom if he can go but she seems to avoid the issue like the plague, and fobs him off by saying another day.

Although my ds loves having his mates back he also loves it even more if he gets an invite to theirs.