Recess is the fun and social part, where children enjoy their games, evade their space and disconnect. But what happens when our son plays alone at recess? Maybe the child is too small and requires individual play, or it can happen when the child is much older and is walking around the playground or avoids being around children and wanting to go to the library to read.
The fact that he plays can only lead to a series of questions that should be assessed. It can all depend on the age of the child or the educational style that you are taking home and that makes the child have a different vision of life. Nevertheless, the boy or the girl needs to play, either alone or accompanied, as it provides their learning and confrontation with life.
When is it a sign of concern if your child plays alone at recess?
Children live their stages of coexistence, empathy and play differently depending on your age. At the age of 2 to 4 years the little ones still do not empathize, their desires are still to want to meet their needs and observe everything that surrounds them to begin to feel life. At this age they may start to be interested in the game, but still individually, they like to play with their parents or some little friend, but they don't mind doing it alone. At 4 years old, he already begins to want to share his games with othersThey begin to be more sociable and that is when they begin to develop their management with friends and at school.
When should I be concerned?
We have already mentioned that each child progresses in a different way from the rest of the others, but his behavior can be worrying when he has changed suddenly and we observe that he has a way of acting differently from other children. We can also be suspicious when it does not fit with the upbringing that we have given to another of our children.
- If between the ages of 2 and 4 you like to be alone and create unusual movement patterns, like swaying or rocking, self-hitting, pinching, head hitting, etc.
- When you are at recess or in a park surrounded by children and it bothers him how they play and scream, it scares him all the movements, when they run or jump.
- When you have turned 5 and want to be alone, does not want to go to school, does not mention a friend in his or her class, does not invite a friend to his or her house or comments that friends from school do not want to be with him or her.
How you can help a child when he is in this situation
Parents and teachers usually communicate in such a circumstance. Many parents feel very concerned about this circumstance and can go to Educational and Family Orientation sessions. Here the child will be closely monitored and how to act in a coordinated way will be evaluated.
Parents play an important role for support. You always have to accept how he acts and make him see how he can evolve with a lot of love and empathy to change his attitude. All the variants and contexts that it can supply must be exposed and see how you can interact with it all.
Act quickly. make him accept himself and that he loves other children in the same way with respect. It is not at all constructive to compare the child with other children or with siblings. Nor should we show that loneliness is bad, as we have always been told. Adults must be the first example, They must see that we feel empathy for others and that we are close to other parents.
Do not always force the child to do something he does not want to do. Neither feed him that he is a victim, nor feel sorry for him when he sees that he has not done something right to help him grow. The child can always be encouraged in a relaxed way to integrate and play naturally with the other children. Before bedtime you can talk about what you have done throughout the day and evaluate how many positive things you have done. We can do the same when he comes back from school.
We must accept that our children they need to grow and manage their emotions at their own pace, with challenges that they have to face in their life. If we do everything with love and tenacity, we can help the child to be a fully integrated adult in a society.