From the time Aadvik was around 1 and a half, I noticed he wasn't very comfortable with unknown people around him.

For example, in social gatherings, he would cling onto me or my husband and would be reluctant to interact with others.

Back then, I had thought it's because he isn't able to talk yet.

But as he grew older and started talking, I found the same thing is still in him.

At home, he would be extremely talkative, energetic and full of curiosity, whereas outside, everytime someone would want to talk to him or pinch his cheeks, he would hide behind me.

I have even had people ask me why he wouldn't reply to them.

Now this was getting me worried.

As any other mom, I started reading about it from articles available on the internet and also talked to some people.

I further noticed that this behaviour of his was not around children, but only when he was with the grownups.

So, with adults, he would take time to warm up and would do that only after spending some time with them.

Is it normal - I have asked myself several times.

And now I know... YES, it is.

It is common for many kids to be slow to warm up.

However, we as parents need to help them too.

I think what works best and has definitely worked for me is reassuring my child that we are always around.

So in any social gathering, either me or my husband is with him till he starts feeling comfortable in that situation. Also, we let him take his time and try not to be over-comforting because he may feel we consider it scary and he may get more scared.

🌸

So basically, to all the parents out there -

Shyness or rather, slow-warmingup is ok unless you notice your child is playing alone even when in groups of similar age children.