Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Helping a childs self-esteem

Today, I'm going to tackle a topic that has recently added some salt to a fresh wound.

Bullying.  But more than physical.  Verbal bullying.

My oldest son is the youngest (by far) in his all day K class.  As he was turning 5, the bulk of his peer group was turning 6.  I'm sure many of you parents have been faced with a tough decision on whether to send your child to school early, or wait.  Our decision to send early was affirmed by our son's teacher.  D has no problem with the material, the mastery of it, or any of the needed skills.

But - and there is always a but - I'm not kidding myself.  A year less of maturity, intra personal problem solving and just physical growth, does put D in a difficult position.

D is short for his age, which is amplified when he's around kids older than him.  He is gregarious, and often quite loud, which I suspect is his defense mechanism to stress.  Let me be nice to everyone, so no one will try to hurt me.

It recently stopped working. And stopped my heart cold.