Dear Faith, My little boy is intense and sensitive in how he loves people. My mother was in town for 2 weeks, and we took her to the airport to send her off together. I took my son with her to the gate and showed him that she was leaving and going back to her home. He didn’t fully acknowledge it (he is 2.5) although I know he is capable of doing so. Afterwards, he started becoming increasingly aggressive, defiant and spacey. He is pushing, hitting, throwing food and finding it funny…both and home and at his preschool. He refuses to sit at the dinner table to eat and whines and cries the entire time at every meal. I am assuming he doesn’t know how to communicate that he misses grandma, and doesn’t understand what he is feeling. I am not sure how to help him with this. Hope you have some insight.
Dear Mama,
Your poor little boy! How hard for him to form such strong bonds with Grandma, only to have her disappear. For someone who is intense and sensitive, having a grandparent disappear after settling into his life and his heart can feel like abandonment or even a death. My suggestion is to really let him know that Grandma is still alive and well, and still loves him, and to incorporate her into your lives as much as possible.