kcaveney
asks:
Q:
3-year old w/ anger issues
My 3.5 year old has troubles dealing with his anger after seeing his dad and it takes a week or more to get back to normal. He will act out aggressively and more physically (to the point of making kids or me bleed by hitting or throwing hard objects at them) when he gets angry.
A little history is that his father and I split 1 year ago after 7 years together because I asked him to step up and put effort into parenting and he decided it was easier to just leave. I have less stress when he is not around and would love to cut him out of my life, but I can't because of our son. However, he has only seen his son a handful of times within the year and never calls him just to talk or keep up to date on what is new. My son loves when he sees his dad (usually it is only for a few hours and never overnight), but I think that he has abandonement issues since he never knows when he will see him again.
I am struggling to help my son cope with the sadness and anger he feels, but I am at my whits end (last night he broke my nose by throwing an object at my face). Every day it's a worry about whether he will do the same to any of his classmates.
I have told his dad that he can't see my son until he sits down with me and sets a schedule so my son can see when he will see his dad next. I also told him he has to explain to my son why he is not around but I am not sure these will work. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Kim
In Topics:
Discipline and behavior challenges, Single parent families, Divorce Issues
A little history is that his father and I split 1 year ago after 7 years together because I asked him to step up and put effort into parenting and he decided it was easier to just leave. I have less stress when he is not around and would love to cut him out of my life, but I can't because of our son. However, he has only seen his son a handful of times within the year and never calls him just to talk or keep up to date on what is new. My son loves when he sees his dad (usually it is only for a few hours and never overnight), but I think that he has abandonement issues since he never knows when he will see him again.
I am struggling to help my son cope with the sadness and anger he feels, but I am at my whits end (last night he broke my nose by throwing an object at my face). Every day it's a worry about whether he will do the same to any of his classmates.
I have told his dad that he can't see my son until he sits down with me and sets a schedule so my son can see when he will see his dad next. I also told him he has to explain to my son why he is not around but I am not sure these will work. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Kim
> 60 days ago
