M
ML
Guest
I think my son is an attention junkie. He pouts and sulks if I give praise or attention to anyone else. He has always done this. As I remember back to when he was 4-5 and we had a boy from pre-school come over for a playdate. difficult child wouldn't play with him. So I, feeling sorry for the kid, played with him and tried to engage difficult child. What winded up happening is difficult child got really mad at me telling me that I loved this boy more than him and why was I giving him more attention. He still does this to a lesser degree. He has had a few playdates here recently and has engaged fine and my intervention has not been required. But even if I say something nice to one of them like "nice picture" difficult child will sulk and say to me privately (why did you say her picture was nice, what about mine?).
One of the biggest mistakes I have made as a parent is to give difficult child all my attention 99 percent of the time. I suppose it's also part of onlyitis (only child). Sure, he's demanded it with his gfgness and all but it has drained me and I know I have done him no favors. I wonder if he had been trained to not have as much would he be less demanding of it now?
I was just wondering if anyone else has a difficult child that has similar behaviors?
MicheleL
One of the biggest mistakes I have made as a parent is to give difficult child all my attention 99 percent of the time. I suppose it's also part of onlyitis (only child). Sure, he's demanded it with his gfgness and all but it has drained me and I know I have done him no favors. I wonder if he had been trained to not have as much would he be less demanding of it now?
I was just wondering if anyone else has a difficult child that has similar behaviors?
MicheleL