Sensitive

[LiamsMum]

Hi all, I'm just wondering about my 22 month old ds. I take him to playgroup once a week, where there is another little girl a few months younger than him. She is a very boisterous & vocal little girl (high spirited I guess) but not aggressive at all. The problem is that she tends to scream when she gets excited. The last two times I've been to playgroup, ds and this little girl have been standing next to each other and both times she has let out a big scream right near him. He looks at her, his bottom lip starts to tremble, then his face crumples up and he bursts into tears. Same thing has happened twice, and now he is clinging to me when he sees her, like he's afraid of her. It's strange because she has not been aggressive towards him, and they used to play quite well alongside each other. I haven't seen any of the other children react like this and I'm just wondering if he is a bit on the sensitive side... he's always been active but I've never seen him be aggressive towards other children. (Maybe that will come later...). Anyway I was just surprised to see him get so upset when he wasn't being hurt in any way.

Maybe he's sensitive to the pitch. I've noticed that DS1 can get quite agitated when he hears a high-pitched sound, regardless of how loud it is. Also, how would you like it if someone was shrieking in your ear? Just reassure him, I'm sure there are plenty of other kids he can play with.

Angharad, I wouldn't like it if someone shrieked in my ear, but it doesn't seem to bother any of the other children - that's the only reason I've been thinking about it. There are other children there that he can play with but it's not a very large group, so they are in close quarters with each other. I was just wondering whether this kind of reaction to another toddler was quite common.

Liamsmum, IME around 2 is the age when they do seem to pick up irrational (from our point of view) 'fears'. Eldest dd was like this with the vacuum, youngest dd with dogs. They both hated it if any lorries put on air brakes when we walked down the road. It could be that he is much more sensitive to the pitch than the other kids, or it could just be that the shock of the noise frightened him, and now he has a bit of a phobia about it. IME these things do wear off after a number of months (anywhere from 3 to 24!) & there's not much you can do about it. Sorry I couldn,t be of more help, but at least you know its normal! (or perhaps my kids aren't normal - should I be worrying )

Hope you didn't think I was being flip, does he get upset with any other noises? I don't think it's anything to worry about though, DS2 won't go near one little girl at nursery because she kisses him (and all the others), actually last week she managed to get a smacker on target and he was distraught!

My dd is a "screamer" - not aggressive or physical just gets over happy to see other kids at times. I went for my 23 wk scan and my mum came to watch dd while I went in - dd could be heard screaming from the playground and in fact made one little boy cry as she frightened him and he was older than her. She is 20 mths and has been doing this a while and has perfected the tone to just the right level so that you feel your ear drum vibrate. Nothing I do or say will stop her apart from walking round with my hand over her mouth which she thinks is a game and amuses bigger children. I admit I am a failing mother.

My son always used to burst into tears if anyone sneezed suddenly and loudly. He grew out of it though at around 20 months.

Queenie, ds (26 months) had now started screaming to a pitch where my eardrums also feel like they are about to pop. He thinks it is extremely funny and telling him to stop just sends him hysterical with laughter. We have now resorted to ignoring him in the hope he will grow out of it/get bored (some time soon pleeeeassse!)

Thanks everyone for your responses. I didn't realise that they start developing fears around the age of 2 - that would explain his hysterical reaction when a spider ran towards him the other day. I was a bit concerned about where his fears were coming from (hoping it wasn't from me!), but obviously it's something that seems to occur naturally. Angharad, my ds is one of those children that goes around trying to kiss and cuddle little girls - some of them just back away from him with a look of horror on their face, and one little girl ran away screaming 'Mummy!!!' after ds got too close to her.