My SD is 10 years old, she always has to be touching her dad
My step daughter is 10years old. She doesnt have many friends, (basically she is not a nice girl, she is very bossy!) I have noticed recently that she always has to be touching her dad! We go to the grocery store, and she's got to hold his hand, if they're not holding hands, she is hugging him constantly. When they watch a movie, she's got to lay on him, or lean against him again, touching him some how. I try to notice other kids her age and how they act around their parents, and I dont see this behavior at all....I noticed this about a month ago, she was sitting next to him on the couch, and she had her hand on his thigh (where I would rest my hand-because we are grown ups!!)She has also with in the past year, started calling him "daddy" (before then, it was DAD!) is this normal? Or am I strange for thinking that this is creepy? I don't remember myself having to touch MY dad all of the time when I was her age, nor do I remember my 2 daughters being that way with their dad, or my son being that way with me?
My daughter is very touchy
My daughter is very touchy feely with her dad- My son not so much. But I think for boys it seems that they get a sense (especially from other boys) that it is inappropriate.
Girls tend to do that with other girls as well- not just with their dads. Like holding hands etc. SO I think girls in general tend to be more touchy feely.
My SD is same...10. I think
My SD is same...10.
I think that (she) my SD feels a little insecure about her position in the new "family "and needs reassurance that she still has a "place"
(This is how I process the touchy feely thing on a good day)
On a bad day (or if boundaries aren't being respected) I process it as a BIG INTRUSIVE PAIN IN THE A**.
So I sympathize.
SD's behavior has gotten better because FDH had a talk with her and tried to set up some boundaries and I decided to apply a sharing rule.
If she holds his hand during a walk to the park, then I get to hold it on the way home.
(It appeals to her sense of fair play)
Good luck and hang in there !!!
She visiting right? She's
She visiting right? She's insecure about her parents leaving her - Dad has already kinda done that - so she need immediate and constant feedback that he's still there.
She's a little girl and one who has been damaged (there are no un-wounded in a divorce) and I'd let her have her little reassurances. She'll outgrow it in time and even if she doesn't who cares if a 21 year old woman holds Daddies hand?
Yep...my SD13 did the same
Yep...my SD13 did the same thing, but a little older. I would come over and find her sitting next to DH much like I would...very VERY close with her arm around his back. She would even, from time to time, come sit in his lap, if I were sitting next to him. It did creep me out too because she is (I'll just say it)...very sexually aware of herself. I ended up talking to DH one on one and told him that I felt like I was "the other woman". He honestly didn't realize how it looked and has since put his foot down. Luckily for us, SD is a large girl, so he just told her that his legs couldn't handle her sitting in his lap anymore. The other things, like sitting super close, he just used some gentle re-direction and that seemed to do the trick. (he would get up to go to the restroom, or would ask her to go get something for him or something along those lines....) He never had to have that direct conversation about feeling her behavior was a little inappropriate....