Time after time, she was ignored or greeted with blank stares. Finally, she asked me to play Berenstain Bears with her, but I told her I was too big to play on the structure. She eventually found a little girl who was interested in playing with her but who had no idea who the Berenstain Bears were, so I encouraged Alaina to ask the girl what characters she knows and likes and to play a different pretend game.
I think Alaina was a bit frustrated by all the rejection and being ignored, but I tried to encourage her to keep taking the initiative. I was not great at doing that when I was little, so I really appreciate that about her. She has done that for a long time now when we go out places, to the park, etc., and often gets no response. I think much of it is just that kids her age still don't always know how to engage with each other. I just hope she won't lose heart and will keep approaching others because it will pay off someday, and she just might make a great friend from doing so. Hopefully she will also realize that she might have greater success, too, if she is willing to pretend something different instead of staying focused solely on her original idea.
Sorry for the long post -- mostly I am writing this for myself so I can look back at it in the future and see how her personality developed.
1 comment:
Elise,
I can really relate to this-Sam is always trying to share toys and interact with other kids when we are out and about. Most of the time the other kids look at him like he is crazy because he is sharing toys. They usually ignore him, or snatch his toy away. Like you, I worry that he will eventually pick up these bad behaviors and my sweet little guy will be less likely to share. I hope that is not the case though.
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