DS5 went to his first gymnastics class after school today but he wasn’t allowed to participate as he wouldn’t take his socks off. Children are required to be barefoot to take part in the class. I have no problem with this rule, it is what it is, but it doesn’t help DS. I only found this requirement a few days ago, naively I thought he would probably be allowed gripsocks. Once confirmed I told DS and he had a meltdown and said he didn’t want to go anymore as he didn’t want to go barefoot. His reasoning for this is that he thinks people will laugh at his feet because he bites his toenails. I don’t think I’m biased in saying his feet and toes are fine, perfectly normal, and the bitten nails don’t look too bad either. I really don’t think other kids will care about his feet or laugh at them but he doesn’t believe me when i say it. He’s got a bit of social anxiety thinking people will laugh at him about everything, and often this stops him joining in, but I hoped that being with his school friends in a familiar setting would put him at ease.
I fully believe that he’ll come around eventually - it took months to persuade him that he might like gymnastics and get him to agree to attend so this is now an unfortunate stumbling block. I’m wondering if anyone has any good suggestions for encouraging him to take his socks off at next week’s class.
Thanks in advance.