Does My Child Hate Me?
We’re thrilled to continue our series on the importance of the relationship between parents and children with this week’s episode: Does my child hate me?
On its surface, a question like does my child hate me? seems as unfortunate as its answer seems obvious. Children are hardwired to love their parents and to seek attachment with them. In our respective years of practice, we’ve never encountered a single instance of a child hating his/her parent. That doesn’t mean, however, that the question isn’t a common one, or worthy of further examination.
In this week’s episode: Does my child hate me?, we dive into the many issues that may cause parents to have these fears in the early months of their children’s lives, and explore how those parents can reconnect with their children when ruptures in their relationships take place.
For more on this subject, please visit our previous episodes on relational health. You can find them here and here.
“We’ve learned that there really isn’t any such thing as ‘colic.’ ‘Colic’ was a word that was used in old times to describe a baby writhing in pain. We now know that in over ninety-percent of the situations where a baby is experiencing excessive and unresponsive crying it’s either from reflux—that is stomach acid burning their esophagus—or an allergy to cow’s milk.”
– Arthur Lavin
“Does My Child Hate Me?” Episode Highlights:
– The fantasy and the reality of having a newborn at home.
– Contending with exhaustion.
– “Colic,” reflux, and babies that won’t calm.
– Excessive and unresponsive crying. Causes and solutions.
– Dividing time between older children and newborns.
– Postpartum blues and postpartum depression. Identifying symptoms and finding help.
– Traumatic birth experiences.
– Feeding challenges.