My son (3 yrs 5 months) is coming to the end of the summer break from full-time playgroup. Despite having planned a full schedule of days out for the past 2 weeks, he is virtually refusing to set foot outside the house. He has to be bribed even to walk up the road to the local shop. It's even difficult to get him to play in the garden (between rainstorms!)
He had a bad ear infection for almost the whole of July including emergency visits to the ENT hospital, total hearing loss in one ear (now a little better) etc. We went away to my parents' for a week as soon as he recovered and he enjoyed all the outings we went on there, but since we've been back all he's wanted to do is stay in his room and watch the same videos over and over.
We did manage a short session at the local family centre which runs its toddler groups during the holidays and he said he enjoyed it but has refused to go again. When I asked him why he said that the children there were not his friends. Admittedly, some of the boys were a bit boisterous (?sp) but no more so than my son, and indeed he started off some of this behaviour by driving a toy car and crashing into them deliberately.
Is it likely that his illness may have affected him and made him more of a homebody, or do children go though this phase at this age normally?