What age do boys make friends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what age do boys start making friends? My son is a rising 1st grader with very little interest in his peers. He does Boy Scouts and some sports but doesn’t naturally interact with kids his own age. He is super social and talkative to adults and kids who are older. He spends most of the time at our pool with teenagers. I ask him if he wants to have playdates with any friends his age but he says no. I’m inclined to go with his roll, just curious when other boys start forming friendships.

That’s quite unusual. You probably have a very gifted child. I would suggest get him tested and seek professional suggestion, or otherwise the asynchronous development (very typical for pg kids) will bite back later

[Anonymous]

He sounds like an old soul

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's just your son. Mine is three years old and often coming home asking for a playdate with this kid or that one.

Mine is a fetus and started a book club.

I don’t know why people are making fun. We started teaching him to ask names of kids he liked playing with at preschool and set up playdates at the park with those kids. Now he asks.

Because you said “it’s just your son” like yours is the only typical and everyone else is atypical

Okay fair. Thanks for the feedback. I should have just left that sentence out.

[Anonymous]

Is he around older kids outside of school? My 10 yo has friends his age but he gravitates towards and prefers to be around his older brother, our neighbors who are older, my nephew who is older. I think its just more in his comfort zone and he sometimes comments on how some of his friends are so immature. I think they are maturing normally, just that my son is used to always doing things that are 2-3 years beyond his maturity level because of the circumstances.

[Anonymous]

My rising 1st grader is the same. He's neither gifted nor delayed, he is shy. But growing up, his older brother always had friends over, so he's used to playing with older kids. I've been told by other parents that 1st grade will be better because at our school, he's in the playground with all the grades as opposed to just with the K kids so there's more choice in playmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's just your son. Mine is three years old and often coming home asking for a playdate with this kid or that one.

Mine is a fetus and started a book club.

I don’t know why people are making fun. We started teaching him to ask names of kids he liked playing with at preschool and set up playdates at the park with those kids. Now he asks.

Because you said “it’s just your son” like yours is the only typical and everyone else is atypical

+1

[Anonymous]

3. I would have him evaluated. Sounds like he might be on the spectrum.

[Anonymous]

My kid did not find his people until 5th grade.
Until then it was family friends & maybe a neighbor.

I understand your concern OP. If you knew he was content and that one day he’d have some best buds, you would not worry . It’s hard to watch it happen!

[Anonymous]

It's hard to give advice based on the info here. 2 possibilities...

One he is on the spectrum or has language issues that make it hard to deal with kids his own age.

Two he is very smart and is in a classroom in which he has few if any equals. Switch him into a classroom where there are some kids equally smart or, if that's not possible, into an activity with equally smart kids and suddenly all those issues disappear. If he can't enroll in a school where he isn't the smartest kid, look for things like music groups, chess club, math clubs, etc., which attract smarter kids.

[Anonymous]

Put him in a class with other weirdos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put him in a class with other weirdos

Wow. What a rude response!

[Anonymous]

Mine is 7. He started having interest in other kids around 4.

[Anonymous]

If kids were all the same the world would be very boring. I do not know why some parents are so proud of making forgettable, bog-standard kids who just tick off checkboxes. Nobody cares about the kid who at age 4 had the correct number of friends of the correct ages.

[Anonymous]

In 1st grade my son started asking for play dates with specific kids. But it wasn't consistent and it wasn't all the time. In 3rd grade I am still pretty involved in the social engineering for him. He likes playing with other kids but it's not his top priority and he doesn't put much effort in to it. He goes to summer camps and I always ask "were there other kids you knew" and he can usually answer that one although sometimes will say "I'm not sure but maybe this one boy was in my camp last week too". I ask "are there kids you like spending time with" and he always says yes. But when I say "what are their names" he almost never knows! So, he is still pretty clueless, but I'm not terribly worried about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's just your son. Mine is three years old and often coming home asking for a playdate with this kid or that one.

Mine is a fetus and started a book club.

I don’t know why people are making fun. We started teaching him to ask names of kids he liked playing with at preschool and set up playdates at the park with those kids. Now he asks.

Because you said “it’s just your son” like yours is the only typical and everyone else is atypical

... but isn't it typical? All my kids except for the one with severe social anxiety were asking for playdates in pre-school.