When Your Child Says "I Don't Like You!"

It is surely a trigger of fire inside us when we hear our kids say "I don't like you!" I have heard this from Zach a lot of times. Most of the time I fumed with anger and nag him how I take care of him, I did this or I did that for him. Other times I get tired of being mad so I just ignore him. But how should we really deal with it?

Is there something wrong with what I said or have decided? That's what we would immediately think. Perhaps there's really nothing wrong with your orders. As parents, we always wanted the best for them. But maybe it's time to rethink how we deal with our kids. How do we talk with our kids? Being a kid doesn't mean we have the right to slash out our anger to them. And I'm guilty of this.

Or perhaps, it's not us, parents. They're just learning how to relate their feelings with words. They're developing how to express their emotions. And it's better than being physical about it by hitting or kicking. At this time of their life, they have realized how they make impact to people by using words.

I have read from other parents in babycenter.com (not a paid post :D) that they go through this phase especially when they are secure. Glad to know that my child is secure, hehe! They must feel safe enough to test us out when they express negative feelings and positive feelings too. It can get draining but it's a chance to start a conversation. Draw him out of that emotion and possibly fix the problem. It's also helpful to reaffirm our love for them by saying "I love you" despite of what he said. Don't overreact or make a big deal out of it.

Hope this post has helped you as it helped me. Thanks for reading!

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