Reply to Helping DS, 8, make peace with not being one of the popular boys.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Agree with the PP teacher that for ES boys, being sporty and outgoing is pretty much a guarantee of popularity. OP, is soccer one of the sports your son has tried? If he’s a decent athlete, his size won’t hold him back at all as a soccer player, and it is fun for kids to play at recess

Agree with others that he should focus on activities that he loves and that play to his strengths, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with working on learning to be good at a sport at the same time. [/quote]

While my son is a coordinated athlete, soccer is too rough for him.   [/quote]
Too rough in what sense, OP? Is he afraid of contact or just goes flying when someone runs into him? All recess sports are tougher than their organized versions, but if he learns some soccer skills and how to make accurate passes, he should be able to avoid contact most of the time. The burly kids who love to drive toward the goal regardless of who is in their way will be happy to receive a pass from a teammate. Another idea is flag football, where he could work on his agility and playground ball skills without contact. Again, it’s not that he has to do sports, it’s just that team sports tend to give kids a lot of confidence and a built-in friend group.  It’s so great for kids to have friends from different groups and schools, IMO.

I’ll add that in our neighborhood at least, academic ability is not considered a negative at all. Lots of the most popular athletes are also excellent students, though that probably will surprise some of the folks down the line who are forming opinions about kids based on their playground behavior in 3rd grade.  Many of my kids’ friends who went to parties most weekends in HS were also top students, which I still find kind of surprising. [/quote]

The contact and pushing.  Soccer is very physical where we live - it just isn’t for DS right now.  [/quote]

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