14 month old doesn't seem to enjoy toddler groups?

[MrsLux]

Hello, some help please!
My 14 month DS just doesn't seem to enjoy toddler groups. I try and take him to a musical group every week and he just doesn't seem to enjoy it. It's only an hour and he seems to spend most of that wanting to sit on my lap or fiddling with something in the room (door handles etc)
He goes to a child minder once a week, spends one day with my husband while I am at work and the rest of the time he is at home with me or being looked after by family if I work a weekend.
Should I persist in the hope he gets used to it or come back to it at a later date? He is usually a super happy chap but this seems too much for him?

 

[Miss Bellum]

My eldest is the same, I've tried taking her to some different groups with mixed success. What sort of things does your LO like? Maybe a more active class would suit him more? If you dont think he's getting a lot out of it, I would give it a rest for a few weeks and then try again. Some children just dont seem to like classes

 

[twobecome3]

an hour is a really long time for a 1 yr old! my 4 yr old would not sit and play an instrument for an hour she would be all over the room as well or want to go home. the pool is nice to get them used to the water we did about 20/30 mins in the pool then

at that age, the park or free-play type playgroups where its just a big room of toys, a snack and some singing. also the libraries have some good drop in times for babies to play with toys and mingle

 

[jessmke]

So long as your son isn't crying or scared to be there I would persist in going. It might just take him some time to settle in.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I would keep trying. It doesn't sound like he is upset or scared or anything, so I'm sure he will still benefit from the toddler groups

 

[Zephram]

Agree that an hour is really long for a 14 month old. At that age they also don't understand the concept of the group or that they are supposed to be concentrating on one thing. They really just want to explore their world. If she doesn't seem to get class situations like that at the moment, she is completely normal. Keep taking her if you want and eventually she'll get into it, or wait until she's older and it makes more sense to her. Sometimes it nice to go just to get you out of the house and around other people too.

 

[MindUtopia]

At 14 months, he really is too little probably to enjoy much of what happens at toddler groups. In my experience, they are much more geared towards older toddlers (2 & 3 year olds). We went to rhyme time at that age (only about 30 minutes though), which was fine, because it's for babies as well. But we also did some others including a music class and it was just too much. She didn't really want to do anything and mostly just clung to me. It wasn't really set up for a 14 month old and we stopped going. Even at 2 or 3 years, unless they have friends in the group, it's weird I think to expect them just to interact and play with strangers. Some might, but I think it's normal still to have little interest in playing with other children at that age. It's much more about sharing and turn taking and listening and being kind to others and that comes a bit later in the another year or so. So I would keep going if you enjoy it, but I wouldn't overthink it too much as he's still little.