When my daughter was 4, there was a time when I noticed that she had stopped showing her affection not only for me but also for my wife. My wife was very close to me and I felt something was wrong. What I did was to play with her and later on, I surprised her with the question - why she appears not to love us anymore. She plainly replied that we were always quarreling. That was an eye opener that I think is common to children when the parents quarrel in front of the kids. Just food for thought especially to the young parents here.
Thanks for sharing this. I always read that there must be a reason behind a kid's reaction or behavior, and most of the time, it's something too big for them to handle, and that's why they react that way. I also read that there are some developmental changes at certain ages too. It's always good for parents to talk to our kids more often and find out what they are experiencing and feeling. It's really good that your kid told you that, and that also proves that you have good connection with her.
That makes sense that when it is something that they are not familiar with or seems too big for them they tend to react in ways that we may not be accustomed to. I think that sharing experiences and solutions is really a worthwhile thing to do and of course some good honest communication.
Wow..that must have been really tough on you @Alexandoy. While we try our best to be great parents, life seems to have a way of creeping up on us and we are not aware that we have little ones around us. Our actions and decisions affects our children a great deal. It is actually very good that you noticed this on time and you were able to deal with it. Some parents will just assume their kids have changed and pay no further attention to it.
I've not seen that young kids do that, but I do know that preteen kids are not as willing to do things as younger children. For instance, when kids are growing up, they like to play sports, but at the preteen age, many are cynical. Well, they might enjoy sports at school and among peers, but they might not want to shoot basketball with their dad or something.
I can understand how hard it must have been for you @Alexandoy as a father because there were times even I stopped showing any love or interest towards my parents. My dad is not very close to me so he just didn't mind that but my mother she got really worried and one day we had a big argument and the reason for me was that they were controlling me too much. They never allow me anywhere to go outside, with my friends, not to try anything new like that. So this made me develop hate towards them. And when I told my mother about it she understood and she changed her. But my father he never really understood though and I got tired of fighting.