Quote Originally Posted by magnoliaparadise View Post

Others have said that this boy needs some friends and a chance. OK, I can see that. But your child needs to learn to make good friends and this boy may not be good at that (yet). It seems like encouraging a kid (yours in this case) to take care of another by having a playdate when he doesn't even want to seems to only be teaching your own child to be a codependent. It's always important to be kind to others, but he should know too that he isn't required to befriend someone he doesn't necessarily want to befriend. That's just as important lesson as giving the other boy a chance.

.
Thank you, Magnolia. This is exactly my fear. We spend so much time trying to encourage DS to be true to his feelings, to assert himself and to not feel responsible for others (he is always the kid that does things he doesn't want to just because he is afraid of disappointing a friend or classmate) and I worry that by forcing this playdate I am basically contradicting all of the advice we're giving him.