do little girls "fancy" little boys??!

[happydazy1]

Apologies if this seems like a bit of an odd question. My ds1 is only 2yo but keep having problems with little girls sort of harassing him. Two in particular at toddler groups.

Things like wanting to do the same (small) jigsaw as him, pulling him off a trike, following him around from toy to toy and wanting to play with the same one. It's just too often to be random them wanting the same toy.

My ds gets really fed up and a few times has ended up being told off for not wanting to share when he's been just trying to defend his space a bit (e.g. the jigsaw), and a game he had with a ball.

Also its not just them wanting to be friends but more attention seeking , e.g trying to grab what he's playing with.

Does anyone have any ideas on this sort of thing and strategies for him as starting nursery soon.

tia

It isn't 'fancy' as such but it does happen.

Can you have a word with the group leader at the toddler place about his need to be able to have some space to himself?

Then teach him an appropriate phrase "Thank you but I want to play by myself right now" (or whatever) that has been agreed with them and a follow-up action if that doesn't work, e.g. take toy over to where supervisor is and ask for some 'alone' time, that is 'acceptable' to the group?

Good news is he'll have a great time as a teenager ;-)

Thanks. Ds1 can't talk much at the moment - but will try and train him to say your suggestions when he can.

That's part of the problem really - girls of this age always seem much better talkers as well. One of the girls is 4 so hopefully will be out of the way at school soon anyway. I was just really surprised by this sort of thing - ds has no interest in pestering girls at all!

Not 'fancying' at all, although you'll meet plenty of adults who will make horrid references to 'fancying' and 'girlfriends' and 'boyfriends etc.

Take the children's sex out of it - they're just little kids who probably want to join in with whatever your DS is playing with, and need some support from adults to not be so 'hands on' about it!

And if he's only 2, don't try to 'train' him to do anything - he won't have the understanding or spoken language skills to be able to negotiate with other children. As it's a toddler group, I assume you'll be there playing with him. Do the little girls' parents get involved at all? They should be managing the situation too and modelling appropriate behaviour like waiting for their turn to play with a particular toy.

I've two boys and a girl 7,5 and 2 (girl is two). She is so much more socialable then the boys were and loves "playing" with other children, whereas the boys at that age were not interested at all.
However, her idea of playing is basically being very bossy, ordering others around (especially boys) and gently pushing her friends ina playful way.
All very odd for me, as the bys were so much more physical, but less sociable.

Anyway, I think it's just a way for the girls to play with your son. I don't think you need a strategy, just maybe sit next to him and if any little overplay full girls come ups to him, defend his territory!

He'll be a couple of months older at nursery and so will the girls, its also more supervised and the staff will be more vigalent than the volunteers at playgroup.