Need soem advice for my 3 yr old....

[Tonia80]

MY DH left about a week ago, just decided to never come home. Things are tentative right now, we are friends and he has come to visit the kids twice. That is a whole other thread in and of itself so will not get into the details..... BUT it is really effecting my 3 year old. He is normally a pretty agressive child. I mean, he has a very empathetic heart but gets frusturated easily and shows it physically. Well, I babysit often in my own home and every time a child comes into the home in the last few days he gets mean with the child. Hitting, pushing, etc.... I know he needs lots of extra TLC and reassurance right now but am wondering if I should let the parents of the kids i babysit for know I need to take a break? Should I just let this be sort of a seclusion time for myself and the kids or would it be better to keep things as normal as possible? Any idea how to put this into words for him? As of now I have just been telling him I am not going to go away cuz he said he thought I was and that Daddy loves him very much. My assumption is that either he is jealous of other children taking his moms time with his worry I will leave too or that he is just mad its a kid and not his daddy here. TIA!

[infraread]

I don't have any btdt advice, but

[OTMomma]

I think I'd try to take a week vacation from the babysitting and give your son some extra special attention, I wouldn't drop it long term, as keeping things normal is good too, but a break might be in order. I would look into counseling for him, to help him deal with his feelings and I would look at giving him ways to channel his anger- whether art, sports, a punching bag in the house (we had a blow up one as kids), or whatever.

I haven't btdt as a parent, but when I was 5 and my brother 3, my parents seperated. My brother took it really hard and also acted out a lot. My mom worked hard at letting him experess his anger without hurting others- his favorite was to throw all the chairs in the dinning room down on their backs one by one, and if he was really mad- he'd set them upright and do it again. lol I'm NOT advocating that, just sharing that I know what kind of anger you are talking about.

Peace,

[Tonia80]

Thank you for the responses...
BTw, WHAT is btdt?

[Tonia80]

Ohhhhh...nevermind, just got it "been there, done that!"