Insight on attitude with real classes

HI Angela,

Sometimes younger children are not ready for alot of activities. My son when he was 4 I had put him on soccer,and lots of school work. He fought, cried, whinned. The following year I realized that his body was taking this all in, but was way too much for his nervous system. I let off the following 2 years, after he was much better in joining a baseball team then-[when they are this young they still don’t see the whole scope of the game still until 10 yr old or later!]At 5 1/2 slowly learning, I picked an interested area/or areas–1. he loved “books”, so we read to him enlessly more so[tiring for us, but worth it], then adding other school work little by little, did park days–with lots of time involved. Today he is in the 10th grade. a voracious reader,and loves writing, plays 3 intruments,is in the Symphony,he is above reading at collage level. I also want to say that in Findland & Swizerland children don’t start school until when they 7 and 8 years old. Hope this helps.

🙂 Olga

I would also like to comment that I had a child that was very similiar.  He just didn’t want to do much and I was a bit worried at first.  But like Olga mentioned, it might be too much for him.  He is very young and may just need more time at home with you to feel confident and secure.  We did let our child “out” of the activities that he was signed up for and waited two years before trying again.  And we went VERY slowly with just one thing, even if that one thing was just Sunday School.  Some people just have a temperment that bends towards quietness and small doses of social contact.  Or he might just not be ready and my blossom in social settings when he is a bit older.

Hope that all makes sense!!

pj

I don’t see a point to pushing out of the home activities at this age. It’s just not worth the emotional turmoil. There’s plenty of time for them later down the road. If you delete the activities and he asks to attend again at some point, you’ll know he’s ready.

I agree that 5 is awfully young for all these activities, but what is more telling to me is that you let “him choose” all these activities. That and his freedom to pitch a fit when he doesn’t get his own way suggests that maybe what you have is not an “attitude problem” but an authority problem. Five years old is far too young to be calling the shots. He should be learning the habit of obedience at this age, not doing what he wants to do when he feels like doing it. If it were me I would pull him out of activities and work on that for a whilewhen he is obedient and able to control himself more, he can be blessed with more opportunities to grow in other directions, but obedience and teachability is foundational.