Parenting Big Kids (5-8) Support Group
This community is focused on the joys, challenges and concerns faced by parents of big kids (5 to 8 year olds). The major areas of child development include: physical development, perception and sensory development, communication and language development, cognitive development, emotional development and social development. Join to share your stories and get advice.
OK, first off my daughter isn't in this age group yet. She turns 4 in August. But the preschoolers group isn't much help so I'm hoping for help from people who have been there, done that.
My daughter is a whole bundle of strange and its getting harder to handle.
First she is fairly smart...I think. I don't actually know what she should know at this age lol. But she can write over half her alphabet. She can spell words like mom, dad, april, cat, no, on, grandma, grandpa and so on.
But numbers. No way in hell. She won't learn to count past 6. I've tried using smarties, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, crayons and such to encourage it but no go. She won't learn to write a single number.
But what's really hard to deal with is her social fears. She panics if she's in groups bigger then 5-10 people she does not know well. We take her to story time at the library (20-40 people at a time), she does ballet (10 people) and she started soccer (50-100 people). Story time she basically sits on my lap and hangs off of me. Ballet she now enjoys as they go into a closed off room and she was forced to get to know the other kids. It's been over a year and she is just know starting to smile in class her teacher said. Soccer, oi. Her dad signed up to coach as they were short coaches and she won't listen to him...instead she curls up in a ball on the field of hangs off of me (I assist). If you encourage her to go she has a screaming melt down that can get violent.
And then as of late she has started hugging everyone. It's not appropriate in alot of cases and it makes people uncomfortable. To boot, she hugs them, then reverts back to her shy and cranky self, refusing to talk to them and giving nasty looks at anyone who pursues a convo past hi.
She starts school in a year, and I'm stressed how that's going to go. At home, minus the usual attitude with that age, she is normal and happy. But going into public makes me want to cry.
Any insights...even just 'this too shall pass' is greatly appreciated!! :)
My daughter is a whole bundle of strange and its getting harder to handle.
First she is fairly smart...I think. I don't actually know what she should know at this age lol. But she can write over half her alphabet. She can spell words like mom, dad, april, cat, no, on, grandma, grandpa and so on.
But numbers. No way in hell. She won't learn to count past 6. I've tried using smarties, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, crayons and such to encourage it but no go. She won't learn to write a single number.
But what's really hard to deal with is her social fears. She panics if she's in groups bigger then 5-10 people she does not know well. We take her to story time at the library (20-40 people at a time), she does ballet (10 people) and she started soccer (50-100 people). Story time she basically sits on my lap and hangs off of me. Ballet she now enjoys as they go into a closed off room and she was forced to get to know the other kids. It's been over a year and she is just know starting to smile in class her teacher said. Soccer, oi. Her dad signed up to coach as they were short coaches and she won't listen to him...instead she curls up in a ball on the field of hangs off of me (I assist). If you encourage her to go she has a screaming melt down that can get violent.
And then as of late she has started hugging everyone. It's not appropriate in alot of cases and it makes people uncomfortable. To boot, she hugs them, then reverts back to her shy and cranky self, refusing to talk to them and giving nasty looks at anyone who pursues a convo past hi.
She starts school in a year, and I'm stressed how that's going to go. At home, minus the usual attitude with that age, she is normal and happy. But going into public makes me want to cry.
Any insights...even just 'this too shall pass' is greatly appreciated!! :)
xx
Socially . . . can you try some smaller group activities or just one-on-one playdates? My daughter, who is such a loud-mouth and show-off at home, really clams up when she feels like "other people are watching" her, as she puts it. If yours is doing ballet, story time, and soccer, that's a lot of unknown people to be around for a little kid. If it were me, I'd give up soccer first, since it's really upsetting her. For story time, try to get there a bit before it starts. That way she's not arriving to a crowd, and she's not as likely to notice it's a crowd if she's already there and then people start coming in after she's comfortable. Hope these ideas help!