Yesterday at co-op for PE they were doing Kick-Ball and my son didn’t want to do it, but me and the other kids encouraged him to so he did, but he was on the edges and I could tell the tears were just welling up. All the kids were nice, but he did get struck out that was the tipping point and he left the field…but then didn’t want to go do anything else (didn’t want to go play at the playground across the street, or go inside…he wanted to stay there and be miserable near the other kids). I don’t think he wants them to feel bad or anything, but its sort of a downer to them. This has happened before (and not just in PE) where he didn’t want to participate but also didn’t want to leave or go do something else.
How would you handle that?
I’m thinking I should have tried to give him an out earlier, before it got to that…but then again, other times he comes around and starts to have fun once he starts.
How old is your son? Is there a particular reason he gives of why he doesn’t want to participate, other than - I don’t want to? Really young like K-3 might just be shyness, sometimes this can be hard to overcome. Does he have a lose friend or maybe a cousin he can invite to these PE co-ops to help make him more comfortable? If he’s a tween/teen it might be he feels the kids will make fun of him, but you would need to know the reason why and go from there. Is he not good at sports? Does he participate in other co-ops, if so how does he do with these? Is it just PE he doesn’t like? Would joining a community sports team work better for him, does he just not like the games played in PE co-op? Sorry it’s a lot of questions but you really got to understand why he doesn’t want to participate. Maybe switching out of the co-op PE class to something like a swim or golf team might be better if he doesn’t like the full team sports and is more of a loaner type, but it would still allow him to be w/ other kids his age. is he better at the academic stuff with other kids like a Lego club? Maybe do PE at home and find a different way to co-op for him w/ something he is interested in.
1 Like
