WWYD? Friend issue.

Re: WWYD? Friend issue.

• sunnydays99 member

  May 2014 edited May 2014

  It's the entire play date :-( the last time was at a park. We were there first and DS ran to the girl and said hi when she got there. She responded with "go away, I don't want to play with you!"  Anytime DS tried to play she'd yell "leave me alone, stop following me!" 

  My gut reaction is to avoid the next few suggested play dates and see how things go from there. 

  
  
  
  
  

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• Spin313 member

  May 2014

  Kimbus22 said:

  Does it happen once or twice over the course of a playdate or is it consistent the entire time?
  
  If it's once or twice, I'd let it go and use the moment to talk to them both about being nice to people.  If it's the entire time. I'd just be busy for the next few suggested playdates and give them a break from each other and then see what happens in a month or two.
  

  Ditto this. Also, maybe try taking the kids to do an activity (like visiting the zoo or a bounce house) where they can see each other, but aren't necessarily playing "together."
  
  

  
  
  
  

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• Mrs.Hizzo member

  May 2014

  DS went through this with his best friend when the were right around that same age, except, in that case, he was the one being mean. I think it was almost like a sibling relationship at that time. The two of them started MDO together when they were 15 months old and had been completely inseparable ever since, and since they went all through preschool together, they pretty much were around each other daily.
  
  Anyway, my son went through a phase for a couple months were he was not nice to her. Like, at all. She is the sweetest little thing in the world and it broke my heart. Of course we had lots of conversations about it at home, but I finally called her mom and suggested she tell G that maybe she should stay away from my kid for a while and play with people who were being better friends to her. Her mom laughed it off and told me not to worry about it, but I'm sure she had a conversation with her daughter about how she was being treated. All I know is, after a couple months, everything was back to normal between the two of them.
  
  I think a lot of it is the age. I know the 4's have a lot more conflict than the 3's do at our preschool, because the play is so much more cooperative. Your son's friend may just be having trouble navigating that, and it could totally pass, but I don't think you have to encourage play dates and such if she's making him feel bad. I wouldn't bring it up to the mom, though, I'm sure she's aware of her daughter's behavior and is really embarrassed. 
  

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• sunnydays99 member

  May 2014

  @cjcouple that's exactly what I've been doing so far, with trying to redirect my DS to play with others and telling him that if she's asking for space to respect that and leave her alone. Then talking to him about it more in depth after the play date is over.

  
   

  Thanks for all the advice so far! I'm hoping this is just a phase and will try to just distance ourselves for a bit. 

  
  
  
  
  

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• magentawarped member

  May 2014

  I was going to suggest pretty much exactly what @Kimbus22‌ said. It sounds like they just need a break from each other.

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