My DS has just turned 3, and he’s so shy to the point he is anti social.
At home he is chatty, cheeky and funny, but he only likes his immediate/very close family, no one else. He goes to nursery two days a week and has developed reasonably ok bonds with a couple of the key workers, but he is still really shy of them, and he doesn’t play with the other children.
He doesn’t like friends we see, nor their kids. Sometimes he does warm up after a while, but any play dates at soft play, the park etc tend to involve him leading me off to play with him away from the people we are on the play date with!
He has an older sister and when he’s with her he’s like a different child, much more confident, and if they have a friend over he’ll try and play with them.
He’s even started shouting “no, don’t talk!” At me when I chat to people on the school run, or at play dates.
I don’t know how to encourage him to be a bit more sociable/friendly? I always try and chat to him afterwards and explain we must be kind. His sister was reserved at 3 so it’s not completely new, but she was never anti social to this extent, and would at least play in smaller/1-2-1 groups, and although she’s not the most popular girl in the class now, she has a small group of good friends and is sociable with unfamiliar kids at the park.