Little one very shy

Hello, wondering if anyone else is going through the same as us right now. My little boy is 2yrs 8 months and is SO shy!! He bounces off the walls and is so happy and chatty at home and with close family. But as soon as we go somewhere he is so shy and hides behind me and doesn’t talk to anyone or get involved with playing for at least 30 minutes. This includes his cousins who he sees very often. Nursery is a big issue for me at the moment, I’m not sure they are really encouraging him to get involved and he is in with the pre school already as it’s a small place. The pictures that they send (when they do!!) of the group activities he’s quite often in the background doing his own thing and not getting involved in the activities. I don’t know what to do / how to help him. I just feel so guilty like it’s something we have done to make him feel like he should be shy. I don’t know! I took him to a role play place the other day to try and encourage him to free play around other children but all he wanted to do was sit with me or take me over to the stations and play with me. Which I don’t have an issue with, of course I play with him! But would love him to play / interact with other children.

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Heya! How long has he been at nursery for, and how many days a week is he going? I have a son the same age, and similarly he's super outgoing at home and with adults generally, but when in a group of children he doesn't know he's super reserved and stays with me or needs me to hold his hand if I encourage him to join in. He has been going to nursery since 20 months old, initially one day a week and he didn't seem to interact much at all with the other children, and didn't particularly like it either. We've increased the days to 2 then 3 in the last few months and it's much better, he now has a couple of friends he consistently plays with - but it did take time! And he's still preferring not to play with other children he doesn't know well

It is the best feeling though to actually see them playing with another child, so I hope it happens for you!

My son is exactly the same! It takes him ages to take in a different environment and faces he hasn’t seen for a while. He’s been at nursery for almost 2 years and is thriving and confident and rules the roost there but I guess he’s had time to become comfortable in that surrounding so it’s different. I think it’s normal and common and might just take some time as to begin with every child is like this they observe and play alongside others rather than together.

Thank you both, he’s been in this nursery since he was 9 months old and does 16 hours a week. They say he gets involved if it’s a small group of 3-5 of them doing an activity but anymore then he won’t join in. He never used to be like it, but has been for at least 4/5 months now. I don’t know what changed 🤷‍♀️

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