I got a lot of advice here about finding older kids to play with, it was hard while in pre-k but for camp he is in with first graders and it is SOOOO much better. He is still using words they don't know, but not as many or just don't worry about it as much, but they are so much more interested in imaginary stuff so they like him. Which after the year we had with him unable to fit in and 3 kids being so mean, it almost makes me cry!!! And he SOOO much less conrolling when the kids can keep up with him. When the fit is bad, he acts worse -
DeHe
That's how my parenting has been, holding on tight to those little moments when I can see flashes of happiness in my son and believing that things can be so much better than the behavior that shows when the fit isn't good. I use those moments to motivate myself to keep trying to find a good fit, even when it's emotionally exhausting.
As my son has gotten older, there are more and more 'back to back' months of happiness: 8th grade at public school with a gradeskip was excellent from September to March, Summers at CTY camp have been great, and this year, 9th grade deceleration at boarding school has been excellent. What a difference from elementary school (One amazingly good year plus 1 terrible year and 2 'quite bad' years!)
As far as peers, DS went to daycare at age 7 weeks. His stratagy was to choose a single child to be his main focus, and all was well as long as that other child was in school and willing to play. The teachers were also concerned that he seemed to want so much of their attention. In retrospect I think he craved adult attention because the Adults could talk, unlike his classmates.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
