My darling 17-month-old is very attached to Daddy lately. She follows him everywhere which is really cute, except for when he has to get ready in the morning. For the first year or so of her life, it was all about Mommy but now when my husband says "do you want to go with Mommy," she keeps clinging to him. I think this is normal but if anyone can chime in on their experiences, I might feel better :-).
My girl is 4 and still daddys girl. I've learned to accept that I will never be 1st with either of them again. lol They only have eyes for each other!
100% normal. Give it time and it will come back around to you being the favorite...and then daddy again and then you again..... :-)
As you have already gathered from previous posts... totally normal. Our daughter is 3 and has been Daddy's Girl since we stopped nursing at 14 mos. I figure she'll come around when she's 5 and then hate me when she's 13... enjoy the down time and watching the two of them bond--that says a lot about your daughter's relationship with her dad.
my son has been the same way since he was weaned at 17 months--he wants absolutely nothing to do with me when dad's home (and i'm the one who is home with him all day, answering the "when is daddy getting home?!" question every hour on the hour). Sometimes it hurts my feelings--i miss how i was the only person in the world to him when he was a baby, and that amazing special bond we had. But then I realize that I would've killed to have a dad like my kids have. It makes me so happy to see them jump for joy and squeal when he walks in the door at 5:30 every day..i never had that growing up (single mom with my dad completely out of the picture). You are very lucky to have such an involved and loving father for your daughter :)
Our 2/5 yo girl has been clinging to me lately and wants nothing to do with dad! It hurts him a lot, but I agree that it gets better. Some children though, like adults, will relate more to one parent in general, so you should be ready for it to change but possibly be more daddy. What I read online is that you should keep saying to her that you will love her no matter what- and don't tell her that it hurts you. Just keep saying it's okay and I love you anyway. Not easy we know!
My son is not yet at this stage of life, however, I did read an article about this a while back in American Baby Magazine. To sum it up, it basically said that children will favor their primary care parent up until a certain age (probably around 17 months), and then switches favor to the parent that they do not get to see all day long. I have a feeling that this is what is going on with you. Apparently this is all normal behavior. She'll come back around!
He shouldn't ask her if she wants to go with mommy. It's a parenting error to offer a child a choice when they do not have one. He needs to firmly say, "Go with Mommy now, I'm busy." Keep things separate in the morning, try to keep her out of his way in the morning if she is delaying him and have him just leave, skip the goodbye and the drama of it. But most importantly, do not offer your child choices when they don't have any, or ask if they want to do something when they are going to have to do it anyway. Don't be afraid to be firm and authoritative and tell your child what they have to do. They don't need to be partners in decisions.
My son does this occasionally. I won't lie, it upsets me. But just remember, at that age, they can only really focus on one thing at a time. So if she is enjoying Daddy holding her....well, no, she's not going to want to go to you. It's normal.
