Summer days

So people regularly ask me if I'm worried about Grant's social development, especially since I don't send him to daycare. These questions become more urgent if I mention that I hope to home school him, or some other alternative form of education. It seems that most people believe social skills come from being out in society, instead of being good manners and values that begin at home. This baffles me.

A lot of the research on attachment parenting shows that kids that stay close to their parents during their formative baby and toddler days, do NOT become clingy and shy, despite the predictions of those who don't know better. In fact, being confident in where one's parents are and that they will always be there, increases the confidence a child has in themselves and being brave about trying new things. Afterall, they know mom and dad will be there if they need them.

All this being said, I took Grant to the park today. Usually he loves to swing and use the slide and climb to the point of giving me a heart attack. Today however, they had the splash pad turned on and there were half a dozen toddlers playing. Grant insisted that this was where he wanted to play. Despite coming unprepared for playing in the water, I took off his shoes and sent him into the splash area in his shorts and t-shirt. He ran right to the water sprays. He danced on them, put his face in the water, ran in circles and generally played his little heart out. He also was quick to go up to any and every other child there. Both older and younger kids would catch his attention and he'd run up to them. With older children, he'd approach and look them square in the eye. If they began some sort of play, Grant would follow their lead. If they weren't quick to start something though, Grant would begin to play and expect them to follow his lead. This might entail going to a new splash zone, running to the fence, or playing with one of the random toys that were in the area. Younger kids, Grant would generally go up to, touch their shoulder and then lead them to the water or toys. He was confident and outgoing...and seems to have outgrown the need to hug other kids until they scream. LOL

Of all the kids we saw today, Grant was the only one that played with every other child there and never hesitated to approach anyone. He even interacted well with the other adults there (one mom had a 13 month old with a ball that Grant continually brought the ball to, believing it belonged to the mom and the not the baby.)

It was all quite endearing and showed me that I need not worry about his social skills. He's a confident, friendly and outgoing boy who people seem to respond well to and he seeks out interactions appropriately.

Even though he doesn't go to daycare.