My daughter is 20 months old and does not seem to like her dad very much. This has been going on since she was born. She will not hug him, rarely kisses him even when he asks for kisses, and will rarely eat if he puts the food in front of her, & she will not listen to him if he tells her not to do something, etc (& those are just a few of the things she won't do for him). With me I cannot pull her off of me she listens (for the most part)...& I could really use a break. We live together and I am a Mom/Student so it gets hard to study bc she is attached to my hip. This breaks his heart, and now he just tells our family and friends when something above happens that "she just doesn't like me". Is she just testing his limits or is this something more serious? I would really like to hear from people who have encontered this same senerio! I'm not sure if I am helping or hurting the situation by stepping in sometimes....We both just are not sure how to go about this....PLEASE HELP!

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Don't step in, in fact leave the building. Go get your nails done, or go for a bike ride, go visit friends. She has to learn about him and that he can care for her and she'll be ok. You have to leave her with him to get to know him. You have to break the mom/daughter attachment at the hip problem. And that really will be a problem when she gets older. 18 months is really when separation anxiety makes it's appearance, so it will be even more difficult given her age. But, with constant reassuring from you and dad, she'll learn to love him as much as you and be a very well balanced child :-)

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I have heard of this happening with some of my friends. I have small experience in this as my 16 month old would ALWAYS prefer to be with me than with my husband. But she will accept him if I am not available and she clrealy loves him. But, the point is that frequently, toddlers become extrememly mommy focused to the exclusion of everyone else. And it's HARD! It's hard on the mom (EVERY time I out her down she whines or cries) and it's hard on th eother parent.

The solution is, I think, to just go about your business. Do not let her father give up. Make sure he knows that he isn't doing anything wrong-a mommy preference is completely normal. Just make sure he has plenty of time to bond with her-maybe he can be the parent who is there for some of her favorite things---bathtime, a push on the swing, a food treat--whatever it is.

Good luck-
DN

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have him do all the fun things. ie; she wants to go to the park, dad will take her, or you both go but dad pushes her on the swing, if she doesn't like it and wants you to do it tell her no.

you can feed her the spinach while dad gives her the fruit roll up or whatever that is a lot more appealing.

when you get a new toy for her let him give it to her and play with her.

she seems to be really attatched to you, which is good, but leaving dad out. do your best to back off and let dad do more things even if she protests, she needs to understand that dad is just as important as you. good luck

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