Social Smack-Down

We were at a park last night listening to music, and N was playing with his friend B, who is 3 going on 8 and like a cousin to N and hence one of the 'safe' kids he's willing and happy to hang with. But he's been doing better and better socially, and starting to really make headway, and so when B ran into his friend D, who is also 3 or so, apparently N was willing to keep on playing with both of them.

I'm short on details (Baroy was on kid duty at the time), but apparently they started playing hide-and-go-seek, and N was right there in the game, when suddenly D just hauled off and smacked N in the face.

Baroy handled it fine, just telling D that hitting isn't OK, especially in the face. But thus ended the game, and that particular foray into playing with other kids. And while I know that this is one of the hazards of peer interaction, and that these are the sorts of things N will have to learn to deal with...it still made me want to scream. Because, really. I can spend all day every day teaching him social skills, and talking to him about expanding his social horizon, and doing every possible social interaction therapy there is, but if each time he takes a chance and gives it a shot he gets literally smacked down for it, well, I ain't raisin' no fool. He's going to figure out that this whole 'playing with other kids' thing just isn't all it's cracked up to be.

In short: Can. Not Win. Sigh.