21 Month Old behaviour with group activities

[RedHairedGirlie]

I am a single mum with a 21 month DD. She has been going to nursery for nearly a year now FT and there are no problems with her there and she appears settled and enjoys going. The problem is if I do anything with her at the weekends as group activities i.e toddler dance group, toddler gymnastics, she refuses to join in and just tends to run off to do her own thing. Just started the gymnastics class on Sat, and she refused point blank to play on any of the equpment even with me holding her hand helping - she just cried and wanted to leave. Does this sound this kind of behaviour sound familiar to anyone? Am sure she joins in activities at nursery. I am staring to get really paranoid that its something I have done or not done :-(

Perhaps she associates thoe kind of things with nursery? Maybe she wants to spend Mummy-time with just you?

I understand you wanting to be with her at thee kind of groups..but the only real reason for them are socialisation...and she gets that at nursery.

ALso 21 months is VERY young for orgnised classes...not a lot f point in it unless you're a stay at home mum who wants to ensure your child gets to mix.

I think you should enjoy time together...allow oou both to relax and enjoy the weekend...walks in the park, pnting at home, vist to the museum...cafe...shops...she probably just wants to be with you.

I should imagine that's pretty normal for her age, she's still very young. I would wait until she's a bit older (3 - 3.5) before taking her to organised groups. Just stick to toddler groups / soft play where she can do her own thing ATM.

agree that 21 months is really young to be doing formal activities. they just don't "get" it at that age

if i were you i'd spend time at home with her, just you and her. she's in nursery full time and would probably really enjoy just having you to herself

I would keep her at home more as she probably doesn't spend much time there. Just doing ordinary things like playing with her toys.

I think seeing as she goes nursery she doesn't need more organised activities.

Yes, try just chilling out at home- down time is bliss when they've been busy all week

Thanks for all the comments / feedback. I guess I was just a little paranoid as all the other toddlers at the session were perfectly happy. When I say the class was formal, it wasn't regimented or anything and parents were just helping toddlers climb over the equipment.. pretty much what they get to do at soft play. Its pretty much just me and DD all the time when not at work so she does have plenty of my time outside of nursery - Maybe I felt a bit put out about the class as I was looking foward to it too much for the social aspect

ahh yeah it's hard when you want to go out and socialise a bit isn't it?
maybe you need to look into other activities you could do?
I think at that age a lot of it is for the mother's benefit (certainly was in my case!) so I would maybe look for something where she can do what she wants, and you can have a sit down and a chat! playgroups are good, but I am guessing there aren't many/any on a weekend... hmmm

they don't have a very long attention span at that age, so that's probably why she got bored quite quickly.
maybe the other children there don't do many other activities and that's why they were more keen to do it for longer? who knows