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Three year old behaviour - making friends and playing alone

1 reply

abitfunny · 22/07/2020 20:19

Evening all,

A couple of things I’m starting to get increasingly worried about with regards to my little boy.

He really struggles to play alone when we’re at home or at MIL’s house/friends house. When we’re at home neither me or my husband can get much done, he is constantly following us around or demanding we sit and play with him. We do play with him at times but obviously something has gone wrong because now he can’t play on his own without us or someone else being there. Even when we have play dates he will be calling my name every other minute. Is this common? Has anyone else experienced this? I’ve tried talking with him and saying ‘mummy will play with you once I’ve finished making lunch etc etc’ or I’ll be playing with him and say ‘I just need to get the washing out’ but regardless of this he won’t take that on board and either follows me or gets angry/upset that I’ve left.

The second issue we’re facing is his refusal to make friends. Again, I’m not sure how common this is at three, but even his nursery have mentioned it to me that he is confident playing alone with a teacher or goes off on his own. When we meet friends with kids he will reluctantly play with them but quite often will say ‘no’ or even push them.

He honestly is such a lovely little boy and I’m aware he’s still learning but it’s clear that I’m doing something wrong here...

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
AladdinMum · 22/07/2020 23:38

Could he not be included with the household chores? so help make lunch or get the washing out? ie. let's go and take the washing out and then continue playing - at this age they take great pride in being helpful. As for making friends, it is highly unlikely that he is "refusing" to make friends, it is more likely that he is struggling to make friends, maybe due to anxiety/fear related issues (so stays away from other children as children can be very unpredictable and unkind while adults tend not to be) or is failing to understand the required social communication to establish friendships (so unsure how to make friends) - these issues tend to resolve with age as confidence grows

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