Son not happy to see me at Nursery pickup

[DarkDarkNight]

When I go to pick my son up from nursery he acts so strangely, not at all pleased to see my and really hostile. He's acted like this a few times, but it seems to be every pickup I do now.

Today at nursery pickup he gave me a half smile then instead of coming to me ducked away into the playground. He runs away and either plays or just stands looking at me. if I try to get hold of his hand. He hits out, then starts to say he doesn't like me and is not coming with me.

The other kids run out happy and excited saying they love their parents and have missed them. His behaviour is really challenging at the moment and it is so upsetting. I've tried being first in the queue to see if that made a difference but it didn't.

Have another family member pick him up and see if he reacts the same way. How do you react when he is behaving like this?

How old is he and how long has he been at nursery?

Take sweets my son did this because daddy collected him two days a week and he has a car I don't so he got cross and said he didn't want me etc etc. so I take a car or sweets

Some children tend to burst into tears when they see their parents-I thinkit's a "oh that's what I've been missing".
Child I nannied used to do all the things she knew she wasn't allowed to do on handover. (only small, so thinks like tipping the bin over/climbing up chimney). We suspected it was because she struggled with the handover-she was completely happy with me, and happy with mummy, but she cound the change difficult.

I started a thread about this exact thing recently. My DD was 13 months at the time and I got some helpful responses if you do a search. She is growing out of it now. I honestly think she is just becoming more social, has a lot of fun there and knows I am going to take her home to do boring things like dinner and bath time when she would rather play with her friends!

Hi all, thank you for the replies. He is 3 and has been there since September, though he went to another nursery before that. He doesn't do it when my mum or his dad do the pickup, although he has done it to me when my mum has been there. Funnily enough I think his dad often arrives with sweets for him.

I am embarrassed to be honest. All the other kids are happy to see their parents and mine is running away. I have been having lots of issues with him at the minute, but at other times he wants cuddles and we are very close.