My GGG are 4.5 years old. We live in a neighborhood where there are no children their age, but they do go to preschool 4 days a week so they get some social time there. They are all in the same class together.

My daughter Kara is extremely painfully shy. She has a hard time even looking at someone when they talk to her, let alone talking back to them. We are trying to help her overcome some of this shyness, for fear it will hurt her academically down the road. The preschool teacher kind of confirmed this by saying she wasn't aware that Kara knows her ABC's because Kara doesn't talk or participate in class much, when actually Kara can read 4-letter words. So this feels like something we definitely need to work on with her.

One idea that I thought might help is to have playdates for Kara without her sisters around and invite a child from class (her choice). I thought for one, this will give her a chance to "practice" social skills without the intimidation of a room full of kids and teachers around, and secondly she can form individual relationships with kids where they will get to know Kara for Kara, versus as the sister of Anna and Cassie, kwim? So I'm lining up one playdate/week for Kara on Saturdays and having dh take my other girls out of the house for a couple of hours.

Here's the problem: How do I present this whole plan of the individual playdates to Kara, and how do I present it to the other two also? If I make it out like Kara's getting something special, the other two will feel slighted. If I tell Anna and Cassie they're not doing the playdate because they're having special time with Daddy, then Kara feels jipped. I agree, the other two *should* be getting their own individual playdates too, that is the most fair thing, but for the present moment I want the focus to be on helping Kara with her issues and it won't benefit her to have a playdate only every third week (I can only do one/week). The other two are just fine with their social skills and talking/participating at school.

Any ideas? Cuz I'm stumped! And dh is no help!

TIA!
Angie