2 year old with social anxiety

Question

I am losing sleep over my two year old girl. She has recently, in the past month or so, became very clingy to me. We send her to a weekly kinder music class which she used to enjoy, but now she won’t leave my arms when we get there. She will not participate no matter how much encouragement we give her.

She does not interact with the other kids except for an older girl. My daughter is also not keen on toys offered, whereby other kids gets excited and just get amongst it!

I’ve brought her to playgrounds, indoor playlands with slides and ball pits.. nothing seems to excite her. She will want me to hold her hand whilst she throws a few balls around, but that’s about all the involvement that she wants. Is this even normal?! Help!

Additional info: at home she’s very social, interacts with neighbors (adults with pets) and could have basic conversations even. She has formed simple sentences of up to 7 words in English and even a few Chinese words.

Answer 1

It’s somewhere between hard and impossible to determine what’s normal for a two year old. It’s easier to identify abnormal, and nothing you said sounds abnormal.

It sure sounds like someone or something scared her (I’m not going to cover anything worse). My initial reaction is that she’s awfully young. She’ll grow out of it. My daughter was 4 before she let go of my hand. She’s still pretty private but nothing to worry about.

I don’t think there’s enough evidence to draw any conclusions, but her positive family energy is a good sign.

I wouldn’t stress the clinginess or disinterest in playing with other kids. It is your responsibility to be her best friend until someone else steps in, maybe six or seven.

Answer 2

What happens if you were to go out of sight at music class? If you said "Mommy and Daddy have to go to the bathroom, we'll be right back"? (Presumably this is supported by multiple experiences of you saying you'll be gone for a minute, and then you return as promised)

Some kids will turn off the waterworks when they see that you aren't there to witness them.