Interesting insight, Grinity. I would have missed this issue completely. Sometime it is not a question of what messages of acceptance that others give us, but how secure we are in our own world view. My DS is really age-blind and/or size-blind. He does not register that he is any different than any of the other kids in his class, even when they are years and inches (nearly feet!) different. This has its own set of problems, mind you! But to a kid that is very aware of this, it can be quite intimidating. There is a delicate balance between the hunger to know more and the risks that you are willing to take in order to climb up the food chain (so to speak) and the uncomfortableness of being different. That balance will be different for each child.

well, he isn't really pron to emotional outbreaks in public. He's is pretty private about his emotions publicily. So crying in school is sort of strange. At home he and his father both are my sweet cry babies. We watch a movie and it's sad, the two of them start balling. They'll cry while watching the news. When i was young I was like that as well. Be I guess age as crurpted me....lol.

I asked him about going to 2nd and he wasn't really interested.....

He did say to me, "I just need to get used to it. By December I'll be happy."

But then this morning when we dropped him off he said, "Don't be surprised, I am going to cry today. I just know it."

I guess well see later today how it went.

Sorry if I'm repeating some things that have already been said... I'll be honest... I didn't read every post :-)

I just wanted to say that my dad and I were just reminiscing the other day about how first grade was just hell for us. We were not ready at 6-7 years old to be away from home for 7-8hrs a day. Academically and socially we were fine but a long grueling day of desk work was just way too much for us.

I don't know how your school is but in 3rd grade sometimes there is a lot less recess, pe, library, change of scenery, etc... than there is in first grade. It's usually a gradual change but when you skip grades I bet it can be a huge adjustment.

Have you considered doing part time homeschooling? Especially since he's so young and a full day of school can feel like a LOT.
They very long school days we have nowadays is one of the reasons I'll be homeschooling after kindergarten (if not for K as well)

Just a thought!
Good luck.

Poor kid! And a lot of extra kids must be very tough for everyone!

It takes time to get used to a new situation, but he may discover in a couple of weeks or so that a lot of his worries have lessened, just like he predicted. He sounds like a very thoughtful person.

This sounds trite, but try to focus on the good things about the day, and monitor them in your mind to look for changes (more good things in a day, good things going from small good things to bigger good things, etc.).

Val

How sweet!
Sounds like he has both a hopeful and a 'needs to show how hard it is' side.

A friend explained to me about having 'faith' in my kid. It was a time when I didn't have 'trust' in him or in the situation. She explained that when you have 'faith' you convey confidence the your kid will work things out, although you don't feel safe right now. Sound like your son has 'faith' in himself - very sweet.

Grins

Just because he's feeling down right now doesn't mean that it is the result of the gradeskip. If he hadn't skipped and he was feeling down, you might be thinking that it was because he hadn't skipped!

I think that you and he should give him more time to settle in. He's probably right--he'll be feeling better by December.

I saw that a lot of people said about him being away all day. He is sort of used to that, he started full day kindergarten when he was 4. So Him being there all day isn't really an issue.

We just picked him up and he was happy as a clam. His father asked him if he was sad today, or if he cried and he responded, "No, why? I had a great day." He seemed like he had no idea why we would think he was sad.

We visited his class for a little while today, he had a birthday recently (became 7) and so we did the cupcake and juice thing. He seemed fine, seemed to fit right in.

So I think is shaky's are over. He's settling in.

I'm glad to hear that!

Doesn't that beat all? It seems to go with the Intensity thing at our house.

Glad to hear he's feeling more grounded. Gladder that you have us to worry with!

Grinity

Awesome! :-) glad to hear it!