My ds never plays out

[walty]

I am aware that alot of children play out with neighbourhood friends these days probably nearly every child on the planet except for my ds.
He is 8 and an only and has never really managed keep any real good realtionships going with neighbourhood children.
Last summer he was sort of getting a small circle of freinds going but everything went pear shaped with bullying and cliques etc.
So now ds never plays out with anyone and has no neighbourhood friends.
I get really bothered by it and feel as though he must be missing out and feel really sad about it.
There is a couple of brothers at the top of the street who have on the very odd occasion called for him but my ds will not call for them even though I have tried to encourage him to. I just want to see him enjoying himself with some freinds whether it be a bike ride or whatever.
It seems that my ds is the only one who doesn,t have a ready set of friends like other children.He does have friends from school but it takes alot of effort to try and arrange playdates and I would love for ds to have mates in the street to take the pressure off.

Is this unusual or is there anyone with a dc the same.

get him a trampoline and the others will flock to your garden! (will drive you nuts though)

speak to some of the mums and arrange a day in the park. If they are aware that your ds wants to play out, they will encourage their kids to knock for him more often.Or sit in the front with him while he rides his bike or plays with a ball until he gets his confidence.

My dd doesn't get to play out either and I find it really sad because I spent ages playing out when I was a child.Most of the children around here seem to play in their gardens and aren't allowed to venture out.She is also a only child.Not sure what the answer is really.I hope he finds some good friends soon.I suppose our situation is made worse because we live on a busy street.I sometimes wonder whether we should move to a cul de sac.