[flyingspaghettimama]

Heh. I'm coming at this from the other angle - I have a very, very affectionate kid who really believes that everyone else enjoys hugging as much as she does. And wants to make friends with every other little boy/girl on the planet.
I don't know, she might be part puppy. :LOL

She is much better now, and I did have to constantly monitor her, but it was hard to tell sometimes how other children would react - some were happy and some not. We had to really work on asking permission to touch/hug/hold hands.

I am helped (as is my daughter) when parents are direct and say, "she doesn't like to be hugged/she needs personal space, thanks though..." or something along these lines, and a suggestion of what she does like (peekaboo, or looking at X in the library, or talking, etc), with a smile. I don't think any parent or child would take that the wrong way, particularly if you can offer a positive alternative for your daughter and the other child to connect socially, which is probably what the kid is after.

I'm not sure about the teasing example shown earlier - maybe that kid was after a new victim to torment! Although I suppose if there was any fun to be had, I could tell that child, "I'm sorry, my son doesn't like to be teased. But he wouldn't mind playing that racecar with you, if you've figured out how to work it." How does Mr. Teaser respond then...hee...

 

[flyingspaghettimama]

Can you redramatize what happened with her, using stuffed animals/dolls? Have Teddy Bear play the role of an overly enthusiastic, although well-meaning new kid...and maybe Dog is the shy child. Maybe switch roles? We did a lot of this with my daughter at this age.

I agree, it does all happen very fast though - I was usually watching my daughter very closely when we were in large crowds of children to make sure she wasn't trying to "love" them all.