Helping my child move with the group

[JoyLoveandLearning]

My DS (4 yo) is the sort who watches what the group is doing so that he feels comfortable before he joins in. Unfortunately, this means that he misses out on a lot of things. For example, today at "open gym" time, a spontaneous game of parachute started up. He was doing something else but he loves the parachute so I pointed it out to him. For a while he kept doing what he was doing, then he sat to watch the parachute. Then, when he finally joined in, the other kids were almost done. He got to play for about 3 minutes and then was very sad when the game ended. So my question is how do I help him to be able to jump right in so that he can enjoy the whole game? And how can I help him keep up with the group (for example, they've all moved on to play with the balls and he's still having fun with the parachute, then by the time he gets to the balls they've moved on to snacks, etc).

[mom2grrls]

Honestly I wouldn't worry about "pushing" him into going faster, let him go at his pace.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

If you continue going to open gym and places like that, he'll get a better feel for when to join in and how long things are going to last. If you can find a program that keeps a predictable routine, that will work even better (like a preschool).

With my DD, it helped if I said, "oh look, the parachute!" Then ran over myself and joined in. Some kids will still stand back even though the parent has joined in, though.