Question
We have an 8 yr old daughter who is an only child. We live in a nice neighborhood with a few neighbors around her age that she can play with...if the neighbors are in the mood that is. My daughter is very extroverted and loves being with friends and they often take advantage of that...they know they can mistreat her (by refusing to play with her "just because") and she will forgive and move on just so she has someone to play with (I try not to interfere with these relationships, I just tell her that they are not very good friends if they treat her that way, but it is her choice if she wants to overlook their short comings and remain friends) . She is not interested in sports or other extracurricular activities (other than our church, which is small). I was thinking about taking the summer off of my part time job to stay home with her as I always have, but we have a YMCA sponsored day camp over the summer that I was thinking about enrolling her in for 2 or 3 days a week so I could continue working. I have read much of what John says about just letting kids be kids and let them play in the neighborhood instead of always trying to structure their time, so am I pushing this too soon? She will be 9 in Aug and is attached to me to an extreme, so I was hoping that giving her space from me might give her more confidence to try new things (something she detests!). And I was also hoping she would realize there are other children to form friendships with then the ones in our neighborhood. The other option is to perhaps hire a teenage babysitter to come to my home 2 or 3 days while I work so my daughter can still stay at home and play, or I can stay at home with her myself. Thank you for your help!
