https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:56:43 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49861 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:18:29 +0000 Maysprout 49861@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Rock n Roll: Thanks for the reassurance. The moms seem to smile but I was worried I was irritating them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49860 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:15:04 +0000 Rock n Roll 49860@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Maysprout: Yeah, but she's a baby! It's not going to creep my kid out. She probably won't even notice. If your kid is delighted to just be near and watch my daughter play, and my daughter ignores her and plays by herself, everybody's happy. </p> <p>Unless your baby is secretly an old man who is leering suggestively at the small children, no one is going to think she's creepy. It's totally normal, and she will grow out of it long before it gets weird. Plus, it's awesome that your daughter is trying to be social at that age. Maybe she'll be the one making friends with all the kids at the library and helping them all play together in a year or so! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49856 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:06:51 +0000 Maysprout 49856@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Rock n Roll: Thanks, that's a good example too. So in that situation I'm not sure what to do because my LO would be fascinated with your LO most likely so even if I moved her a bit away she'd still watch your LO and squeak. So then she's the staring creeper baby. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49852 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:00:49 +0000 Maysprout 49852@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Andrea: They seem to be 2+. My LO doesn't really play too much but is just fascinated with other kids. So she'll squirm herself or use my hands to walk herself over to a kid and then squeak in excitement. For the trains she kinda tries to roll them but is mainly looking at what the other kid is doing. She will sometimes try to reach for the other kids train but I think she just wants to get their attention and them to talk to her. I guess I'm torn between feeling like she's bothering the other kid to feeling like it's a good thing for them to interact. </p> <p>I think it might be a little different than most areas though, it's a university town and the first language of most of the kids at the library seem to not be English (but a huge variety of other languages) so I don't know if that's why they tend to play more isolated too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49849 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:54:24 +0000 Rock n Roll 49849@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yeah, "parallel play" where children play near each other, but not together is really common even up to kindergarten. (My kindergarten teacher friend told me all about it!) I don't think there's really a protocol to getting kids to interact, I just let them if they want to. Sometimes we go to the park and my daughter wants to be someone's best friend, then we'll go later and she want to play by herself or with me. Kids always seem to work it out amongst themselves, so I let it be. </p> <p>(And as a side note, my daughter is two and absolutely has no desire to play with kids her age or younger and only wants to play with big kids. So she would probably ignore your daughter or just say, "Hi, baby." Nothing personal, it's just her personality at this age, and that might be the case with these kids, too.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49836 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:25:37 +0000 Andrea 49836@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>How old were the other kids? I think it is hard for a 7 month old to "play". Even at 20 months, I notice that my daughter doesn't necessarily play with the other kids when we have play dates. They still like to do their own things a lot of the times and just have little moments here and there where they may be "playing" with another kid. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49799 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:50:11 +0000 cvbee 49799@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>From what I've seen when kids get a little older they naturally will choose when to interact with one another (or not) and it's up to them. And you can be more of a sideline coach encouraging them to continue the interaction or asking them about their 'friends'. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/playing-with-other-stranger-kids#post-49789 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:25:53 +0000 Maysprout 49789@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I take my LO to the library so she can see other kids and get out of the house for a bit. There's a big play space in the center of the kids sections with houses and trains and lots of toys so kids are there a lot. She's only 7 months but really loves to go and squeak at and watch what other kids are doing. </p> <p>I've noticed though that most of the kids don't interact with each other unless they came together. A lot of them seem confused when I walk her over to them. The moms seem to think it's funny since she's so little and encourage their LOs to say hi or show her what they're doing. </p> <p>But then I started thinking maybe they won't think it's so cute when she gets older. Is there some protocol for kids meeting or interacting with kids they've never met before since at our library they just seem to stay separate. </p>