How to foster social skills in a first grader?

[Anonymous]

So my DD is in the first grade and she hasn't made any new friends at school. She has friends outside the school, she didn't initiate these friendship except for one from pre-school, the rest are just our friends with kids.

How can I help her to connect with other kids? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I take her to playgrounds and she will sometimes hook up with other kids and play with them. I arrange 1:1 playdates and she plays just fine. She goes to camps and extra curriculum activities with lots of other kids. She'll talk to them, play along them, but doesn't really get close with any of them.

[Anonymous]

Don't do anymore. She is probably an introvert or still a little socially immature which are perfectly normal. If you keep pushing she will start to think something is wrong with her.

If she is friendly with everyone on sports teams and has good playdates without issues, there is nothing to worry about. My 2nd grader needs downtime. She will play sports, behave well at school, Girl Scouts etc... but when she gets home, she appreciates playing by herself, reading a book or still hanging out with me. She is not pining to set up playdates, see kids outside of those activities and that is okay.

Trust me, my oldest is 14 and there will be a time you wonder if you are even in your child's top 10 people to be around.

[Anonymous]

Ask her who she would want for a play date and invite that kid over. Set up a project like baking cookies so they don't have to sit around thinking what to do.

One on one works better than groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my DD is in the first grade and she hasn't made any new friends at school. She has friends outside the school, she didn't initiate these friendship except for one from pre-school, the rest are just our friends with kids.

How can I help her to connect with other kids? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I take her to playgrounds and she will sometimes hook up with other kids and play with them. I arrange 1:1 playdates and she plays just fine. She goes to camps and extra curriculum activities with lots of other kids. She'll talk to them, play along them, but doesn't really get close with any of them.

I think the one-on-one play dates is the best way to develop social skills. She does well with these, so that's great. In first grade, if she doesn't seem unhappy or complain about being lonely, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Give her time.