Reply to Anxious and introverted four year old won't participate in anything

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Reply to "Anxious and introverted four year old won't participate in anything"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is OP. I think my question was misinterpreted somewhat. I'm more worried about ways to build his confidence via activities. Not necessarily sports related, that's just what we've tried. I want him to feel comfortable in groups and work on social skills and he's having a hard time with that. Open to non sport suggestions. [/quote]

I don't think things that make him anxious, or that he isn't ready for, are going to develop his confidence.

Is he in preschool?  To me, social skills come more naturally in groups with consistent peers.  Very adult directed classes aren't the place to build them.

Have you looked into services through your public schools?

I agree with the suggestion of SPACE.  [/quote]

I guess my fear with this is that the longer we wait the more anxious he'll be because it will be new to him. He told us he's worried because he doesn't know what he's doing and "all the other kids do". Obviously that's not true but my instinct was to do as much as possible so that he's comfortable in these settings vs being the new kid. [/quote]

Well, it's not just a matter of joining a team vs doing nothing (contrary to what rude and angry PPs make it seem). He can be working with parents on building foundational skills like hand-eye coordination and catching a ball, improving his cardio fitness by running/swimming/whatever, and basically just preparing for the sport. He will be a lot more confident if he has these basic skills and he can work on them as *preparation* for joining the team.

He's not going to be comfortable because he has anxiety and is inattentive. If he's not able to pay attention well enough to participate, it won't be a good experience for him and he won't be comfortable, even though he thinks he wants to do what the other kids do. I get that you want to improve his social skills, but putting him in situations that he is not ready for is not going to do it. It will just sour him on the notion of sports.

He is still very young, and kids with special needs are often a little less mature than their age. Many four year olds are not truly ready for a team sport and they only attend because their parents want to socialize. [/quote]

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