My 3-year-old daughter is afraid of other kids at the park. She runs away from other kids and won’t go on any equipment that other kids are on. During a pandemic, she’s been home with me, and we’ve mostly only gone to the park when there weren’t other kids there. Now the parks are getting busier, and I’m trying to encourage her to socialize a little bit, but she’s terrified. I feel awful. We moved to this new neighborhood just over a year ago, so we haven’t really been able to make any local friends. How can I encourage her and help her learn to interact with her peers?
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If she sees you interact with them
God im struggling with much the same thing, but my 7 year old seems to have forgotten how to act around other kids. He’s not afraid of them, he’s just become rude and lost his filter. We just moved and the kids here are really starting to dislike him.
Maybe smaller group . Try one on one time with a neighbor child or a friend of yours child.
Have you thought about daycare. She doesn’t have to go every day. Look for one that you could probably do one or two days a week. I know that helped my daughter out some. Or even just look for some mommy and me classes or mommy day out or something like that.
Same boat. We are Older first time parents and trying to socialize during the pandemic has been hard. None of our friends have kids her age either so no help there. Theirs are all out of school or teenagers. Ugh this does suck.
My first 2 girls were very close in age. They were both very shy, they wouldnt go to anyone nor would they play without feeling nervous. I was a stay at home mom & they werent used to interacting with strangers alot, and spend alot of time at home so i knew that played a big factor. They are now 6 and 7, and socialize great, love playing with other kids etc. They grew out of it. My best advice is to encourage her briefly, but do not force it or push her… act normal about it, & on her own time she will join in. I used to try too hard & it just made my girls more nervous & upset. Letting her find her way when she feels okay is key to helping her gain confidence & comfort.
My oldest was like this. I promise it won’t last long. Cheer up mama.
As long as she isn’t rude or mean to other kids, there is nothing wrong with being an introvert.
My daughter did not like being around with people when she was younger. Now she’s 5 and just being friendly with everyone. I still remind her to never talk to strangers when I am not around.
Play date with smaller groups, if not just one other kid. Start small. And do activities that she is interested in- art, dancing, games, etc.
Mine is two n half. She was like that because we hardly went anywhere with her just before the pandemic last year March so it was over a year being at home. So i looked foe a creche last month and i took few days off work just to hang out with her n all the other kids. That made her to to feel comfortable around all the other kids and now she’s back to normal n happy. We struggled for a month. So take her to a creche so that she can interact with kids at her age. Good luck
Where are you located maybe as libraries and stuff open up you can go to story time usually smaller groups there