We've never had the traditional neighborhood where my kids became friends with those who lived near us. Our house is on a pipestem and it has never lent itself to us being outdoors much and seeing other kids around.
That is until now. The house right next door to us has always had a revolving cast of characters. It is not an exaggeration to say that this one house could lend itself to a reality show. A really successful reality show. Recently a new duo moved in; a single mom and her 6 year old daughter. I guess the odds were in our favor that eventually a normal set of people would take residence.
Even though the little girl is one year younger than Sam, they seem to have hit it off. I was jumping for joy when I saw Sam was ok (and even nice!) with the girl next door. It was a refreshingly 'normal' few minutes when the little girl asked Sam if she wanted to come over to her house and Sam said 'yes'! And then after an hour, the two girls came back to our house to play. Before you know it, the girls logged 4 hours of playtime on Sunday.
This is uncharted territory for us. I've always had to apologize for Sam's shyness and tell myself its ok if she doesn't have many friends. All you need in life is one or two good ones, right? And just because I am outgoing and love to be around people, doesn't mean my children will be. But for this one day, Sam went with the flow and allowed herself a little fun playing with a new neighbor. I was so proud of her.
Maybe, just maybe, the social skills therapy group has proven to be helpful.
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