is your 2 and half yr old friendly?

[liahgen]

Have decided to repost this in here, wider audience perhaps

Because mine is complete;ly not at all. Not shy, just very un friendly. I swear she was born looking down her nose at the midwife and it all went downhill from there really.

Seriously, she is grumpy, won't even look at people and is very stroppy and we end up walking on bloody eggshells so we don't upset her.

She's 5th dc so am not a learner but have never encountered this before, except on a friend's child who is still like it at 4!!

Lets say if she wasn't my child i wouldn't actually like her very much.

When she wants she can be very sweet and she loves her mummy more than anything in the world.

It's driving me mad now though and I don't know how to tackle it.

Suggestions please and thank you.

[liahgen]

see, I have the unfriendliest 2 yr old on the planet.

[MintyCane]

Are you sure she is not shy ?

[worthmore]

How is she with other kids? Does she have any playdates, or go to nursery?

[liahgen]

Well I guess she is shy, mil tells me dh used to hide behind the sofa when people came to their house.

She has 4 siblings, and couple close friends, she talks to family members, her godmother when I am not there, and that;'s about it. Other kids love her and want to touchher cos she has very long wavy hair and is very small , she almost growls at them. I am forever asking people not to touch her.

she starts play school January,

if people ignore her, then she will play quite happliy in a room where others are, but if someone spoke to her, she would hide her face or move away.

tis very frustrating. And her behaviour at home is doing my head in, she's like the little bloody princess.

[Francasaysrelax]

I don't know, mine have always been quite friendly and of a cheerful nature.
I think it is ok for a child of your dd's age to be unfriendly. As Minty said, she might just be very shy and that's her way to cope with it.

[MintyCane]

She is shy, I am sure she will grow out of it she sounds lovely, growing is cute in someone very small. If she is still growling at people when she is 40 I would worry then. I know a few people like that

[maxybrown]

I am small and even now get "touched" or patted on the head - tis very irritating, so I don't blame her for growling

[MrsGravy]

Sounds just like my 2 and 3/4 year old DS!! He's my second and his older sister is the complete opposite - so, so sociable and chatty with everyone. I've always believed it to be shyness with DS tbh. He takes a long, long time to feel secure and confident with people but once he does he's fine - he adores my best friend for example, but it took him 2.5 years to work that out!! He is also a lot better when I'm not around - I think he feels safest with me so when I'm around he clings.

[Jamieandhismagictorch]

liahgen Sounds like my DS1, when he was a toddler. He is now a lovely 9 year old.

I used to worry about him as he was quite a "serious" baby/toddler, used to get very absorbed in playing, didn't really like other children in his space, especially messing with what he was doing. He was also very tantrummy. He did not respond to lots of adults, BUT he preferred those who were not too loud and in his face, IYSWIM. He preferred to observe what was going on, then he'd warm up gradually and join in. He found groups harder going that one-on-one.

Does this sound at all like your DD ?

If, so I think you need to stop worrying about your DD and "rebrand" her - she is just as much an individual as your others and some of her traits may stand her in good stead later. Maybe she's not unfriendly - just discerning

DS1 has great concentration, he is very thoughtful and doesn't blunder into things. He is independent and won't be swayed into doing naughty things justbecause everyone else is.

(he has grown out of the grumpiness and has lots of friends, but still likes one-to-one play best.)

She's still really little, just try and accept her ...

[Jamieandhismagictorch]

BTW, my mum said I was also not a "friendly" baby - would just stare at people. I am very friendly now - honest .

[wideratthehips]

if shes one of five is it a way of making her stand out from the others and get attention IYKWIM...i don't know if 2yr old are that sophisticated! my 2yr old middle child is a wonderful, kind, engaging child but when he wants attention, he just does something naughty!...i try and keep an eye out for it but i'm not always on the ball and sometimes the things he does are breathtakingly naughty...and he knows it.

Our eldest can be a bit wobbly and emotional about the daftest things and we have decided to just not feed into it and try and focus on him being positive about things...i'm worried that hes going to develop a negative persona because its what we have come to expect

[Clare123]

My 2.3 growls at other kids!!! He has A LOT to learn!

[Scottie22]

My 2 year old is friendly - well very interested in other children and people in general. But I notice a lot of children of the same age are not friendly back or just lacking in interest. I think lots of children of this age are still in their little world and being sociable isn't important to them yet.

I was really shy at this age btw - usually stuck behind my Mum's legs most of the time with her really embarrassed about me!