Okay I realise this sounds a bit silly. My 3 year old is a full time nursery goer and is the type to usually have one or two ‘special friendships’, kids he spends most of his time with and calls his best friends. This obviously changes if he moves a class and they stay behind. His most recent friendship started about 5 months ago, and over the last couple of months DP has been taking him for play dates with this child and his dad.
DP commented that this kid is quite highly strung and has frequent meltdowns, and can be a bit bossy towards DS, but I didn’t think much of it as kids will be kids.
However I tagged along on one of these play dates a few weeks ago and was pretty horrified. This boy is very up and down with DS, one minute playing nicely and the next he was screaming in DS’s face (no exaggeration) to ‘stop following him’ and ‘leave him alone’ over some perceived slight. DS looked really shaken and upset and seemed relieved when the play date was over.
Nursery have also commented that this friend is quite possessive over DS and intense, and that DS often tries to escape playing with him but isn’t always successful.
DS’s behaviour has also deteriorated, he has become more sullen and highly strung himself and seems exhausted when returning from nursery every day. He’s also started wetting the bed again, not sure if it’s linked to stress (we had him checked over by GP and seems fine otherwise).
I know I can’t realistically expect the nursery to keep them apart, but would I be unreasonable to ask them to encourage DS to play with other friends and make an effort to cool things between them?
Thanks