One of the things I want to do as a parent is to teach my daughter good social skills.  She is only 18 months old but in a few years she will be starting pre-school and I want her to be able to make friends easily.  To start her off early I enrolled her in a Little Gym© playgroup.  The first couple times we went I figured it was normal for her to be shy so I didn’t worry when she refused to interact with the other kids.  Now we have been about 6 times and she still refuses to play with everyone else, and is extremely clingy when we first get there.   I find myself getting very frustrated over this, “why won’t she be social?” Well I know that part of it is her age, (she is still in the selfish stage of development) but then it got me thinking.  I am generally a very shy person and don’t really talk to the other parents when I am there.  So, what is my daughter learning from my behavior?  I need to SHOW her how to be social with other people.  If she sees me standing in the background by myself she is going to think that is what she should be doing too.  I need to show her that it is okay to take a chance and talk to a new person.  I realized that if kids learn by example I need to be that example to her in ALL things and show her how to succeed in making new friends.  Wish me Luck!