If I may get personal please, would any brave mums be willing too share? When your child started kinder, or more so prep (first year of school), did they have trouble making friends? Or socially not fitting in? My next question is for kids a little older, have they ever been the target of unprovoked & relentless bullying? I’d sadly love too hear their story & not only how your child coped, but more so YOU. My eldest starts prep next year, for me this is the most terrifying part of parenting. How do you keep it together in such heartbreaking circumstances?
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My son has had some major difficulties with adhd and responding poorly to medication trials and to my surprise, the whole grade still love him. There are kids who are refugees and don't speak English and the kids love them. There are morbidly obese kids, ASD kids... You name it and they still have friends. Kids don't tend to start bullying until older. I wonder whether you have unresolved anxiety from your childhood experiences though? You're worrying about something that probably won't happen
You can't worry about these things in advance, you will send yourself crazy!
I get it though, I was socially awkward in primary school. I was painfully shy and I just didn't have the tools to make friends so I spent a lot of time alone. High school I was mercilessly bullied, my kids will have to attend the highschool I did and that fills me with anxiety.
I have 3 primary school aged kids, I guarantee your son will have some minor incidents in his school experience - kids are rude sometimes, sometimes they are unintentionally mean, sometimes navigating social interactions can be hard for them. The best thing you can do there is teach him resilience, give him social tools so he can try and deal with some of it himself and to know when he needs to get an adult/teacher to help him (it's a really good life skill) and it's important we as parents don't let our experiences allow us to over react to the small stuff.
Should he experience severe bullying, you just have to stay strong for your kid, don't let your emotions get in the way of your good judgement (a friend of mine put a huge vicious and threatening social media rant on fb last year about an 8 year old girl supposedly bullying her kid- it landed her in some hot water legally speaking).
I think it may be helpful for you to talk through your concerns with a counsellor or someone similar.
Your son will be fine x
I think you might be letting your fears rule you here.
Most small kids dont make close friendships. They float and play with different people each day and week and even if its the same people they dont realise its that close friendship yet.
As they get to years 2 and 3 they start to form close mates. Most schools have lovely kids in each class that will always support a lonely child and call out others who are mean.
Also schools implement lunchtime activities and clubs for children to find their place and their mates with similar interests, and some even run structured play for children who have a hard time with socialisation.
As long as you talk with your child about their feelings, and keep open communication with the teacher, and give your child gentle guidance but also space, they will find their place.