I am so frustrated.... As a father who sees his 6 year old child almost daily I am still having an issue with seperating child and mother. Mother makes it a point to reassure her that she will be back at 8pm. On the few occasions that mother is not there I have no issues with her behavior. She is calm and happy to see her dad.
On the days that I have to deal with it, our daughter will hide behind mom in the doorway, and rotate around her without letting go. At times I think she thinks it is a game, she will be laughing and giggling, but when she has to let go, that's when the tears will start to fall. Usually after we get on the road and back home she is acting normal again.
Most of the time it is not as extreme as it was today. Their just happened to be a parade happening and our daughter wanted to go, which we had to travel right through their anyways. Our daughter wanted her mom to go and ride with us….. Then she wanted to ride with her mom. Mom said she would drive separate. I had to take time to reassure our daughter that mom was coming and everthing would be all good. I have also made it a point to tell her in a very positive and sensitive way that when she acts in that behavior it really hurts dads feelings, and it is not nice. She seems almost confused, and can’t explain why she does it. Especially the fact that there is no reason to act like that.
Once we get to the parking lot mom follows behind. She runs over to her moms car and She acts as if I don’t exist. She refuses to hold my hand. While she is holding her mom’s. When I reach for her hand she moves to the other side of her mom. This happened a few times. I have never seen it this bad. When I had to take a brief timeout with her to address the behavior in a calm and quiet way the tears start to fall once again. She is pulling and reaching towards her mom.
I am starting to feel like a random stranger in my child’s life.
Their has also been 2 times where I had to pick up child in a resturaunt where mom and family were eating and once our daughter sees me she crawls under the table. Once I sit down and I start talking to her everthing calms down she is back to being happy again. This is so embarrassing and makes me feel like a piece of trash. It always manages to happen in front of people.
I realise it is not my daughters fault, but I can't exactly yell at her mom either. It mother always seems to try and confort her and is against her behavior but I can’t say I believe that 100% either.
I plan on taking her to a child
psychologist. Maybe we can figure out what Is going on here. I’m sure mom will be against it…..
Uhhh , I almost lost it today…