Our 2-year-old calls for me (dad) for almost everything. Nightmare in the night? Dad. Need to put on shoes? Dad? Need to be picked up? Dad. Mom tries to do something? No, dad!
I don’t mind this. And I know the phase will end, and I will miss it.
But it seems to be really hurting my wife. I think she also knows, deep down, that it’s just a phase and that it’s nothing she is doing wrong. But I can see in her eyes that she feels that our daughter loves her less than she loves me.
Any advice? Neither one of us wants to force our daughter to show affection to anyone. But any ideas how to make mom feel more included/wanted?
Went though this with my kid, as with all parenting you have to set the example and act in the way you want your kid to behave. Always show affection and support for your wife, talk about how great mom is to your kid when moms not around. My kid would scream that she hated me and that she only wanted her mom, it did hurt, and required a lot of patience. Now we have a great relationship; my patience was rewarded.
Thank you! I’ll be doing this a lot more starting this evening.