It's an adorable sight – up to a point: a big-eyed toddler tucking her little head into her mommy's neck when someone speaks to her. But when that shyness turns to screaming, it can be stressful and embarrassing – especially if that "stranger" is actually her grandma!

According to Brenda Nixon, parenting speaker and author of Parenting Power in the Early Years (WinePress Publishing, 2001), stranger anxiety and its cousin, separation anxiety, won't last forever, but may continue to occasionally make an appearance for as long as five years. The good news is that it's also a perfectly normal reaction that shows that your child is beginning to understand some very fundamental facts about his or her little world.

Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety are not the same thing, but they both often result in a crying, clinging baby. With stranger anxiety, a child will react negatively to the face of someone she perceives to be new. The key word there is "perceive" because at this age, a child's memory is still developing, and toddlers will forget someone they don't see often.

Separation anxiety, on the other hand, often begins at about 6 months, when the child begins to learn that Mommy (or Daddy) still exists even if she can't see them. Before that it was out of sight, out of mind. Now they know the person they want is just around the corner – and can probably be brought back with a loud yell.

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