[kindacrunchy]

My DS is 3.5 years old and is extremely introverted. He was always slow to warm up when he was a baby and I was totally fine with that and very responsive to that. Now that he is getting old enough to join activities that he says he wants to do, then we show up and he doesn't want to do them, I feel myself crawling in my skin, wanting to cry, 'cause I don't understand why he doesn't just join in the fun when he was super excited about it on the way there. I want to cry'cause I feel so sad to watch him watching the other kids with his hands in his pockets and knowing full well he is capable of doing what the other kids are doing.
Anyone else?

 

[kindacrunchy]

Anyone, anyone?

 

[G&B'sMama]

My DD is like this too. She is an observer- she sits and watches very carefully and for a long time before she participates in stuff with other kids. It can sometimes be very difficult to watch. The hardest part is that she often thinks of kids she "watches" as her friends even though she has never talked or interacted with them and then feels very hurt if they ignore her when she makes the effort to interact.

I don't really know if this is introverted behavior or not. I think of an introvert as someone who feels tends to feel recharged by being on their own and an extrovert who feels recharged by being in a social situation. Of course, its all a continuum, so there is a large amount of variation. My DD is definitely an introvert in this way.

We help her with social stuff by trying to explain how social things work in very explicit terms. That seems to have helped her a lot.