No1 son is almost 13. He has just finished his first year at High School. He was bullied at primary school so has gone to a different High school from his class and has settled in brilliantly. He is a bright boy but very quiet, we've just had his end of year report and it is absoulutely fantastic.
We are so pleased and have told him so.
The overriding theme of the comments is that his practical/written work, team work, attitude etc are all really good however.....he is quiet in class and only contributes when asked to (when he does, again they say it is all positive stuff). This is basically a repeat of all his primary reports. I know that in primary he didn't like to say anything or ask anything in case he was wrong or got laughed at (bullying issue) but i'd really love it if he felt able to be himself more. He is clever, funny and generally a nice lad.
He has always lacked social confidence (he does not lack confidence about his abilities!) though so I can't really pin it all on the bullying and I think looking back, I blame myself and my OH for being overly strict. During the bullying he was displaying very anxious behaviour at school and it was felt that he may be borderline aspergers though in the end we decided not to get him tested as he didn't need any additional support by that time. He did however display impulsive behaviour from time to time and I guess we were a bit tough on him as we didn't want him to hurt anyone - we wanted the nice compliant well behaved child that we now have but maybe we sucked his spirit out too :(
Anyway, after that long tale, what I am looking for are ideas to help him feel more able to open up a bit - I know that he will never be the life and soul of the party - my OH and I are not exactly social butterflies either.
Can anyone point me in the direction of a good book/website or just general ideas?
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Teenagers
Ideas or resources to boost a young teenage boy's social confidence?
24 replies
soontobeslendergirl · 10/05/2013 19:06
OP posts:
mindfulmum ·
11/05/2013 07:25
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