My DH was always super outgoing, but I was painfully shy for much of my childhood. I came out of my shell when I was in junior high, and am thankful that my parents never pushed me to be more outgoing. They accepted that I was shy and just involved me in whatever activities, etc. I felt comfortable doing.
DS is 3.5 years old. He's never been very outgoing around strangers and is at least highly sensitive, though I suspect there are some sensory issues as well.
Lately, he's gotten much more timid about things. I believe this is because his imagination is just astounding at this point- that's often a great thing, but it also gives him bad dreams and makes him imagine scary things.
I understand when he's timid about certain things, even if he didn't used to be bothered by them. He doesn't enjoy singing at story time (because other people are there- he sings the songs at home and enjoys them), he doesn't like to play in play areas at the mall, etc. (I remember feeling the same way when I was younger), etc.
However, I have two issues that I'm not sure how to handle:
1) Sometimes I feel like maybe his reluctance is a self esteem issue? He'll cover his face or slap his head and look down if I try to get him to sing, etc. when others are around. I remember being VERY self conscious when I was in my shy stage- how do I know if it's a self esteem issue or if he is just shy? And how do I handle it?
2) He doesn't want to go ANYWHERE anymore. He just loves being at home. I also have a 1 year old and I'm really ADHD- I can't stand being in the house all day. What do I do? We got dressed and went to story time today and he cried and didn't want to go in the room to hear the story, sing the songs, etc. so we just did some puzzles and looked at books. He said he wanted to go home, so we left and went to the grocery store instead. Once we were there, he said "I wanna go home..." Every day it's a fight to get him to get dressed and leave the house. When DH is home and I have to run an errand, I offer to bring DS with me but he cries and says he just wants to stay home. He ALWAYS wants to be at home. He'll start preschool in the fall, which I worry about, and frankly, I just want to be able to leave the house w/o him crying that he watns to go back home. WWYD? I guess I'm not sure what I should be concerned about (and attempt to slowly adjust) or what I should just accept as 'how things are'.
DS is 3.5 years old. He's never been very outgoing around strangers and is at least highly sensitive, though I suspect there are some sensory issues as well.
Lately, he's gotten much more timid about things. I believe this is because his imagination is just astounding at this point- that's often a great thing, but it also gives him bad dreams and makes him imagine scary things.
I understand when he's timid about certain things, even if he didn't used to be bothered by them. He doesn't enjoy singing at story time (because other people are there- he sings the songs at home and enjoys them), he doesn't like to play in play areas at the mall, etc. (I remember feeling the same way when I was younger), etc.
However, I have two issues that I'm not sure how to handle:
1) Sometimes I feel like maybe his reluctance is a self esteem issue? He'll cover his face or slap his head and look down if I try to get him to sing, etc. when others are around. I remember being VERY self conscious when I was in my shy stage- how do I know if it's a self esteem issue or if he is just shy? And how do I handle it?
2) He doesn't want to go ANYWHERE anymore. He just loves being at home. I also have a 1 year old and I'm really ADHD- I can't stand being in the house all day. What do I do? We got dressed and went to story time today and he cried and didn't want to go in the room to hear the story, sing the songs, etc. so we just did some puzzles and looked at books. He said he wanted to go home, so we left and went to the grocery store instead. Once we were there, he said "I wanna go home..." Every day it's a fight to get him to get dressed and leave the house. When DH is home and I have to run an errand, I offer to bring DS with me but he cries and says he just wants to stay home. He ALWAYS wants to be at home. He'll start preschool in the fall, which I worry about, and frankly, I just want to be able to leave the house w/o him crying that he watns to go back home. WWYD? I guess I'm not sure what I should be concerned about (and attempt to slowly adjust) or what I should just accept as 'how things are'.
