ds is having trouble at playtimes, mainly because he does'nt like to play football

[neenienana]

DS is in year 1 is saying increasingly how he finds playtimes, particularly lunchtimes hard and that no one will play with him. Whilst I do'nt think this is strictly true, there are a group of boys including one of his friends who now like to play football regularly. He has stated that he does'nt like football and would rather play on his own. When he tries to get them to play other games, they refuse and I can tell it is making him sad. I am trying to invite more friends over to help with this, but have noticed that quite a few of the boys are REALLY into football.
I do realise that this will just be a phase and that he will find some friends who are not so football crazy. The school does'nt believe in mixing classes which does'nt always help them with making new friends. Just wondered if anyone out there had experienced similar and whether there was anything I should be doing.
I got really upset the other day as he said he wanted to change schools......

My ds is very similar. He's in Year 2 and has no interest in football what so ever. He tends to play with the girls and a few other boys. I do have some concerns that the girls won't want to play with him by the time they are in the Juniors but he seems to be managing OK right now. I did start sending him to Beavers with the hope that he would form some stronger friendships with boys. I haven't got any great advice but I did want to say that he's not alone.

My DS in Y1 is the same, football would be a good way to make friends. DS seems to focus on one friend only and always wants to play with him and him alone. He has no interest in any ballgames and starts being silly and is disrupting the game.

He is very sociable though and loves chatting to everyone, I am sure in time they will find their own groups of friends with similar interests. Not all boys are football mad, which, to be quite honest, I find a bit irritating.

In the next year or so I think I will try and introduce him to a number of sports and hobbies and with some luck he will find something that he will enjoy and make friends.

Exactly the same situation with my son, Y3. He has started a new school and is finding it hard to fit in with the boys who are all pretty fanatical about football. After speaking to the teacher she is going to introduce "no football" playtimes a number of times a week, which I hope will help. He just wants to run around playing star wars, etc. Perhaps talk to the teacher.....

My DS is in year 2 and not into football at all. I think it is sometimes a problem for him, but when I see him in the playground (we live v nearby and I sometimes walk past on the way to the shops) he always seems to be playing with someone.

Maybe he could try and coax some of the football players into another sport he does like? Sometimes my DS takes his tennis racquet in, don't know if thats allowed at your DS's school?

thankyou all for your comments, it's nice to know that he is not alone. He wants to try Kung fu and tennis so he might find some common ground with those.

At our school we have at least two lunchtimes a week with no football, as teachers believe that it helps all children if they play more imaginitive games rather than ball sports all the time. May be worth mentioning to your ds's school - it is quite a common problem for non- footbally boys.

Yes how about Star Wars etc? That's pretty popular with this age of boy, imaginative gams based on it etc.

My DS1 is not really a footballer so I can empathise; my DS2 is mad about footie but also has a very good schoolfriend who is more or less alergic to ball games; DS2 and he play (or rather played as he has moved schools (Not cause of football!!)) made up games based on superheroes etc.

DS2 just came back from a sleepover this lad was at along with a number of members of his footie team and it was the superhero boy he was talking about.