“Those who play beside others may desire the company of other children but may not yet have the skills required to play in an associative or cooperative manner.”
I introduced two toddlers today. They were told they’d meet each other. Child A even learned Child 1’s name before the interaction. When they actually encountered each other, they were each asked, “Do you want to [something like “play with”] [other child]?”
Both said no.
They played in the backyard near each other for the next 15 minutes.
They ate dinner near each other for the ensuing 30 minutes.
Child A said Child 1’s name. Child 1’s head snapped up. There were enough strawberries that there was no competition.
They played in the backyard near each other again. Child 1 noticed and commented when Child A fell from their tricycle.
Child 1 left to go home. Then Child A asked if Child 1 would come back outside. Child A was sad that Child 1 had left.
Child A was happy to learn they’d get to play again tomorrow.
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Subtitle quotation is from Bakeman, Roger; Brownlee, John R. (September 1980). “The Strategic Use of Parallel Play: A Sequential Analysis”. Child Development. 51 (3): 873. doi:10.2307/1129476. JSTOR 1129476.
Julian Wise 