Thursday, 25 October 2012

  • The Affection Dilemma



    I am a stay at home mother, which I'm sure you all know what that entails. During the day, I spend time with and take care of my son. I play with him, discipline him, feed him, change him, the whole nine yards. His father works from 9-5 each day, and comes home at night to take care of him for the last part of the day. He'll feed him dinner, change him for bed, and get him off to sleep. Now, one would think our son would be affectionate towards both of us.

    But the way it usually goes is that when my husband comes home, our son gets incredibly excited to see him, runs to him, hugs him, and generally shows him more affection then he does me. I know that being a mom is an experience filled with joys, sorrows, tantrums, laughs, and more. I don't believe that I am the only one that has experienced this before. So is it natural to feel a little hurt and a little jealous of my husband? 

    I am aware that my son is only two years old, and probably doesn't grasp the concept of either of those. Sometimes, I even think he believes it is a joke, because he'll run away from me laughing right into the arms of his father. What I have been doing is telling him that I also love him very much, and that I would like a hug or a kiss. Sometimes he will give me one, other times he won't. I am kind of hoping that as he gets older and matures more for his age, he will begin to understand a little bit more. I want to raise our son to be a compassionate and caring person, and I want him to learn to treat every single person equally, no matter what.

    I think maybe some of the reason why my son favors my husband over me is because I am the one who is with him during most of the day, which means I'm fun to play with, but when he has done something wrong, that means I have to discipline him. Perhaps he doesn't like that part of me too much. I do not want to be the mom that spoils her children rotten and tells them they do no wrong, otherwise he will grow up to have a warped sense of the world around him. I don't want that for him at all. I want to prepare him for life as much as I possibly can, and if that means I have to sometimes be the "bad guy" and discipline him to teach him that he has done something wrong, then so be it. As of right now, I'm pretty sure there is nothing that I can do to change his mind. He is a two year old, and he is going to be the way he is. We all know how the terrible twos are, I'm sure. I can hope for the best, is all I can do.

     

    Have any of you experienced this with your toddlers? If so, how have you dealt with it?

     

Comments (10)

  • WaitingToShrug@xanga

    I remember this from my childhood. The parent who stays at home tends to be the one who does the most disciplining, and the one who is gone tends to be seen more as "the fun parent". It's also a novelty when they come home, so the kid gets excited. My dad used to work long hours, and we'd get super-excited when he came home. Also, when he was trying to give my mom a break, he'd do something fun to get us out of the house, like take us to the park. 

    He'll realize everything you've done for him when he gets older. I did too, with my mom. Just don't let your jealousy get in the way... jealousy can be a poisonous thing, which I also saw with my mom. 
  • sarahsmurfette@xanga

    I dealt with this as well, when I worked part time. I saw the difference between when Daddy came home from work (yay! Running into his arms!) versus Mommy coming home (indifference or crying). Yes that most assuredly hurt my feelings. But it was natural. Because my daughter spent far more time with me. And we take for granted what we have a lot of.

    For instance: When we lived at the beach (the glorious Florida beach!) we went and actually played in the sand and in the ocean less than once a month. We didn't appreciate what we had. It was, like, no big deal. Now we've moved, and live FAR from a good beach. Hours and hours away. A whole day's drive away. And you know how excited we get at the prospect of going to even a crappy substitution for a "beach?" 

    I'm not saying Daddys are a crappy substitution for a Mother (at all). It's all about taking for granted what we have a lot of, and having excitement for the thing (in this case person) we see less of.
  • LondonsMommy

    My daughter is 15 months old and acts the same way. She comes to me when she needs something, but when other people are around she smiles at them and acts all sweet. Then when I try to hold her or play with her she pushes me away. I think she just sees too much of me during the day and needs a break. At least that is what I tell myself. I also think it has to do with the fact that I am the one who makes her do things that she doesn't want to do. I make her sit down and eat, brush her teeth, change her diapers, discipline her...so she knows I might make her do something and no one else will.

  • rachmorgan01

    I bet his reaction to Daddy coming home has everything to do with seeing more of you throughout the day, and possibly the discipline thing too. He plays and interacts with you all day, and then Daddy comes home. It could be worse, though. He could be completely indifferent to his father's arrival, and that would probably be more upsetting than his excitement, right? How nice to see how much your son loves his Daddy! I can understand it hurting your feelings, though. It's hard to see your child giving so much affection to someone else, especially when you're the one who cares for him all day. Maybe Daddy could delve out discipline on the weekends or whatnot and see if that doesn't level out the playing field a bit.... I noticed the same kind of thing was happening with my husband when my daughter was a toddler. She was with me all day, and as soon as Daddy came home, it was fun time! She'd run to him and want to play, and including me in the fun wasn't part of the deal. At first, I didn't want to say anything because my husband is my daughter's stepdad, and I wanted their bond to grow. Eventually, though, I worked it out on my own. I asked him to help out more with the discipline (without telling him it was because of the affection injustice I felt was going on because I decided that was my own issue, and it didn't need to be his too). Within a few weeks, the affection level was pretty even.

  • personal_journal@xanga

    I know you were asking the question to mothers, but would like to offer some encouragement.


    So to offer a grown son's point of view:  Just as you described your son, I was the same way when I was growing up.  My memory goes as far back as 3 years old, but I recall my father was gone constantly, more especially because of Army demands, so I’d see him late in the evenings, and sometimes after long periods of travel/deployment.  My mother was with me throughout the day, and took care of everything.  She played with me, disciplined me, and taught me everything I knew.  But then when dad got home, my attention went to him and the joy I felt was quite different than what I felt for mother.  Looking back, I think I saw my mother as the one I could always count on that would be there.  In my eyes, mum was always okay, and I could always see her.  So naturally, at that age, it was taken for granted.  I could not always see dad. From that point of view, I treated dad more affectionately like he was the hero, and I treated mom like the one who I would test my limits with, because I knew she’d always be there to enforce the rules, and take care of me regardless of how spoiled I might be acting.    


    Going to my late teen and early college years, as I gained success, I ultimately learned for the first time, to appreciate all my mother had done for me growing up.  Yes, she forced me to learn to play piano, to have reading time, to share, to clean up after myself, etc.  And I always thought she was strict and ‘mean’ a lot of the time.  But I am sure glad she did what she did. I would not have gotten to where I am if it were not for the time, energy, and love that my mother had shown me growing up.  So while I cannot promise your son will return the kind of affection you seek anytime in the near future, I would expect you to reap the fruits of eternal gratitude from him someday when maturity kicks in.  Good luck with your journey in motherhood!  

  • chronic_masticator@xanga

    My boy did the same thing at that age.  Now that he's five, he revels in giving me kisses and covering me in stickers.  I wouldn't take it too personally.  He's sure to come around on his own.  In the meantime, just keep doing what you're doing.

  • VampireOfSeduction@xanga

    *facepalm*
    To put it simply, 'How can I miss you if you don't go away?'

  • notinwonderlandanymore@xanga

    All kids are like that. He doesn't feel the need to give you loads of hugs and kisses because you're there from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed. His dad isn't around much because he works, so when he sees him, he's excited and happy because he's missed him. He doesn't need to be excited over you because he knows you'll always be there. He doesn't need to show you he missed you because he hasn't had the chance to do that.

  • grizzlybearr@xanga

    It gives me pure joy to see my kids get super excited over Daddy coming home. My son wasn't big on affection towards me up until this last year (he'll be 4 in December). He'll come up to me now and wrap his arms around me and say "I'm trying to give you loves mommy". 

    He's at home with you every day. Like @VampireOfSeduction@xanga said, he can't miss you...you're always there! LOL. But Daddy is gone every day. 
    Chin up, he'll come around. I remember going through the same feelings. He just misses his daddy is all it is :)
  • Pollypinks@xanga

    Do a little research, and I'm not being nasty saying this because I have a son as well.  The most significant relationship a person has in life is with the same sex parent.  Your boy needs as much affection and learning time with your husband as he can get.  It's for his benefit, not yours.  Don't feel left out.  Just realize it's keenly important that you have a wonderful, supportive father for this boy, who can role model for him, teach him, play with him, and some day your son will gain many of the same skills.  Relationships do go back and forth, and when they do, you can enjoy this.  But make no mistake, a son needs a very good male role model so he has something to draw from.  My 34 year old son reminded me of that while discussing the fact that his father and I divorced when he was very young.  He said "I never had a father who taught me certain things about life, so I won't make that mistake with my son."  He and his son have the closest relationship right now, playing, bathing, fixing food, in fact, in the hospital, he changed his first diaper, gave the first bath,etc.  I think it will make a difference in my grandon's life, to have a strong father figure.

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