I have 3 kiddos 11yrs, 5yrs, 1yr old. We live in a small community that doesnt have coop groups. When the library was open we used to go quite a bit but almost never has kids we are involved in lego club (but other kids hardly ever come) my oldest is in karate.
With all that being said my concern is the kids dont have “friends” they also dont have kids their age at church. Normally I’m not as worried about this but since the pandemic library was closed, church closed, parks are closed…so now I’m thinking when we go back to our old routines and things open back up up and we still don’t have access to activities with kids the same ages as mine is it ok or should I be worried about the kids not having “friends” aside from siblings? It seems like I’ve read a lot of random articles about negative influences from peers but I’ve never seen an article that says a kid spends too much time with family???
Friends do become more important for kids as they grow–I would probably think about it most for your 11 year-old. Pray and ask God to bring a friend into your oldest one’s life. That said–I’m very glad that my kids are close even today (they are both in college), and the years of homeschooling and family life really helped to cement solid sibling relationships! Sometimes friends come and go–family is forever.
Thankyou for your response I know I need to put more trust in the Lord. After all he is the one that lead me to homeschooling. There are times I want to move to have access to more activities but then I remember why we prefer the small town.