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Yr 1 friend problems - wwyd?

6 replies

lastlostmonkey · 21/06/2014 20:12

My daughter is the youngest in her year. This term she's said a few times that her friends are being 'rude' to her, which seems to be about excluding her from their games etc. We've talked about trying to find other people to play with (it's a 3 class intake - big school), ignoring them, trying to find one person out of the group to play with etc. and she's adamant it won't help. She has mentioned other people getting left out as well, but we talked again tonight and she said that it was just her, that the other children said she was the youngest and was a baby and they wouldn't play with her. She said she had no one to play with at playtime, and that all the games she thought of needed two people. She asked if I could come round at playtime so she could talk to me through the fence Sad. She's also asked to move to another school, which I don't think she fully understands.

I wrote a note just before half term to her teacher saying she was unhappy and could she talk to the teacher about it. I know she didn't give it in straight away, but she says now that she has given it in and no one came to talk to her about it. I don't know whether that's really the case or not. I am going to write another note saying the same thing. I just don't know what to do or how to gauge how serious this is. DD does embellish her stories, so I think some of it must be a bit of creative license. And she doesn't seem upset when she's talking about it. Any advice? I feel really powerless with this - the school is not good at communication and tends to keep parents at arms' length. DD has said these sorts of things on and off since she started there, although this time it's more sustained, and whenever we've spoken to the teachers before they've said 'oh no, she's always playing with someone.'

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Lucyccfc · 21/06/2014 20:24

Maybe it would be better to go in and see the teacher rather than sending a note and just explain what your DD has been saying to you and ask the teacher if he/she can shed any light on it.

My DS (when he was in year 2) used to talk about a particular boy who he said bullied him. I went to speak to his teacher and it turned out to be more about my DS's perception of what bullying was. The other boy wasn't particularly nice to any of the other kids and struggled to share. He would snatch the football and other stuff in the playground, if he felt he wasn't getting his turn and then when the others tried to get said items back, he would call them names.

My DS always would often try to get the 'stuff' back and would get called names, so he perceived this as being bullied.

lastlostmonkey · 22/06/2014 08:55

Thank you, you're right. I will do that. I do feel like there is just some misinterpretation going on, although it still doesn't very nice. It's just hard to know from DD's descriptions. Often things which sounded horrendous at first turn out to have been provoked or accidental when I ask more questions.

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MMmomKK · 22/06/2014 10:24

Friendship issues are common in this age and girls seem to have more of them. Good news is that things change quickly at this age.

I don't know how you feel about play dates - I understand a lot of moms find them had work - but I believe that play dates can really help with finding a couple of girls you DD would feel comfortable with. She might discover some new friends.
Play dates are a bit of work, but for me are worth it if it means my daughter gets to be more comfortable with other kids.

Hotbot · 22/06/2014 10:42

We also did play dates... And we joined rainbows in a different area so dd could have new friends unrated to school. Round here all the kids go to the same clubs and do the same stuff so we wanted her to have. Safe place where school groups weren't in the mix.

DeWee · 22/06/2014 21:16

The thing is as well that if the teacher did come and talk to her about it, they may have done in a pretend-casual way so not to make too much of it, so she probably wouldn't realise.
Along the lines of:
"Who did you play with today?"
"X"
Followed by several other questions that sound totally ordinary conversation.

I do that with dd2 (10yo), who thinks a good story is better for embellishment. Wink. If I ask if there's a problem there always is, so I'll ask leading questions and draw my own conclusions, which sometimes is all is fine, sometimes is that there is something wrong.

FinDeSemaine · 22/06/2014 21:28

Yes, do talk to the teacher. It is interesting how different their interpretation of things can be compared to what the child thinks is going on. A good teacher will take your comments on board and add them to her arsenal of information about the class.

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