mainly because he's more mature that his 1st grade classmates and it becomes a socialization problem. to me he is def not your average kid but he does like to have fun and has no play date buddies bcz they either dont get along and then there is a bit of a communication barrier with the other 60 percent of his class. Just want my son to make friends and enjoy life ..... any suggestion will help :(
Maybe ask his teacher for her thoughts on the situation. She also might know of a couple of other little guys to hook him up to play with during recess, lunch, etc.
My son was the same way until about 2nd grade. Now he is a social butterfly. He is still much more mature than the other kids, however, I think he just figured out how to have fun in spite of it or he just outgrew it. I am sure this will happen for you and your son too.
That being said, be sure you don't make too big of deal of it. My mother's friend freaked out so much about her daughter having friends that her daughter never got to figure it out on her own. She was basically socially inept. Finally when she went away to college she figured out how to be herself and it looks like she will be fine now but you still don't want your kid to struggle like this their whole school career.
Good luck!
my son tends to like kids slightly older than him. one of the reasons, he told me, is because they have better ideas for games. maybe you could find a family in your neighborhood, church, his school, etc. that has several children in the family, his age and older. set up a play date or ask the mom to babysit for you while you run an errand. i find that other moms and i are often happy to babysit for an hour or two because it keeps our own kids from fighting so much when they have someone else to play with for a change. good luck!
Not all kids come with great socialization skills. Some need to be taught and that's OK.
Kids (and all people really) love to talk about themselves and get annoyed with kids who aren't interested in them but only interested in themselves.
Teach your son how to focus on the other child, what they're playing, noticing new things they have, what their interests are, etc. Some kids are more introspective which makes it hard for them to notice these types of things.
Have him practice at home with you. At dinner, challenge him to carry on a conversation with you for one minute without saying ANYTHING about himself (this is harder than it sounds). Use a buzzer (some families use the buzzer from the game Taboo) to beep if he says anything about himself. Take turns around the table so everyone is a part of the game and he gets to listen for your mistakes and buzz YOU. After you've done this a few nights, change the game to see who can go the longest.
Have him also observe your interactions with YOUR friends. Ask him questions about what he observed about your interactions with your friends. Have him observe kids at the park and how the kids are playing together. Have him notice what works in a friendship.
Finally, make sure that your son knows good problem solving skills for when there is conflict with his friends. Kids will not want to play with him if he is bossy, or gets mad when it's not his way, or doesn't know how to negotiate or compromise.
HTH!
