How to handle grumpy behaviour with friends

[handbagsandhairclips]

My DS, is lovely, age 7, he is very sweet and kind, but for some reason, whenever anyone comes to play at our house or sometimes elsewhere, at some point it all goes wrong and they fall out and then my little one finds it hard to snap out of the grumpiness. Any top tips to help them to be a bit more laid back, or is it just age related. It isn’t to do with sharing, they are great at that, they have siblings too. It will just be a small typical type thing such as a comment that upsets them, or a push, or an over zealous tackle in football game in the garden and it is the difficulty with moving past that, that then ruins the rest of the time. Today it was the tackle, that made them fall.

Does this ever happen at the begining of a playdate or is it always midway through? I think it could be that he's just had enough at that point and is tired/overwhelmed so he's getting upset at a small incident and then struggling to get past it. If this is the case, just make the playdates shorter or structure them so there is some downtime/time for him to self-regulate.

Would say later in the day playdates and often associated with being injured in some way or feelings hurt.

Might be better to do playmates out of the house. Having someone in your safe space add to the overwhelm

I used to be 'goalie' for my DGS but stopped at about that age - they can kick too hard and are too competitive.

I’d assume he’s get overwhelmed and ready for the play date to end. Imagine if you injured yourself or had a disagreement with a friend you might feel ready to leave too. I’d keep play dates a bit shorter and if it’s happening with a particular child maybe stop them for a while.

You need to shorten the play dates

Can you organise something where they aren’t going to hurt themselves? I’ve never had a child get injured and upset on a play date before. Perhaps you need to just supervise more and keep them short, 1.5 hours ish.

My dd is younger but I do "what's more fun sulking in here alone in the cold or X"
A bit of jostling along and normal service tends to resume shortly...

Will try shorter and out of the house more, its not big injuries its just the typical bad tackle in football type. I think it is probably one of those things, that will move on as they grow

Yes totally agree, it is hard when they have had a bump and I would feel the same way, I am sympathetic to my DS, but also mindful of not making the other child feel bad