Katie McPherson poses an interesting question: “My son is 4 and just wrapped up his first year of pre-K, where he learned to write, count up to 200, and so much more. And, perhaps more importantly, he learned a lot about social dynamics this year. One of his biggest lessons came in the form of one specific kid, who more often than not would say something that would trip my little guy’s very sensitive trigger. So, I started wondering: is it OK to teach my kid they don’t have to be friends with everyone? We’d always tell him to be kind and respectful, but that he didn’t have to spend extra time around this classmate if he didn’t like his remarks. But was I just giving him an easy out when I should encourage him to talk it through, or accidentally instilling the idea that he could just cold shoulder kids he doesn’t click with?” So she spoke to some experts – teachers, psychotherapists, etc – to find out more. |
