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Grandparenting

Any advice for helping my situation

(111 Posts)
Granjenny Sun 20-Sep-20 00:28:44

My 8 year old grand daughter is often rude to me. She adores my husband and constantly makes a fuss over him telling him all the time how much she loves him in front of me which if I’m honest makes me feel non existent., I have tried to ignore her crush because it is a special relationship however she treats me in a completely different t way. She will often reply “mind your own business “if I ask her a question or reply “what’s it got to do with you” . I am shocked by her responses and if I tell her off she goes off in a real huff. Her parents don’t really tell her off when it happens in my presence as they say don’t rise to the bait and to just ignore her. I’m very close to my daughter and I don’t want the situation to cause tension between me and my daughter but the situation is reallly upsetting me. Apparently her other grandma just says don’t be rude and that’s the end of it but I’m not sure if she gives her the same responses so am I over re acting ! I have a good relationship with my other grandchildren

janeainsworth Thu 24-Sep-20 21:20:35

Lolo But I’m fairly sure there was at least one other commenter advising to completely ignore the child and give her the silent treatment for the rest of the visit - make it clear that she’s being ignored

I think it was my comment you’re referring to, and that wasn’t what I meant at all.
I meant that it’s no good simply pretending the rude behaviour hasn’t happened. I’ve seen parents ignore unacceptable behaviour but try to get children to behave better by cajoling them with offers of treats etc.

I think this just leads to children learning how to be manipulative.

I also agree with those who’ve said that it has to be pointed out to the child that the behaviour is unacceptable.

But in my experience anyway, simply saying ‘you can talk to your friends in the school playground like that, but please don’t do it at home’ followed by a few minutes ‘ignoring’ did the trick, and no children were harmed in the process.

I don’t do ‘adult tantrums’ in the presence of either children or adults and I find it rather insulting that you should make that suggestion.

Eloethan Thu 24-Sep-20 23:39:03

I think it's rather odd behaviour and certainly sounds like she is jealous of you, as being someone else close to your husband. I too think your husband should tell her this is unacceptable and I wonder why he does not. Perhaps he rather enjoys being the favourite and thinks if he corrects her he'll lose that status.

If it were me I would ask her not to be so rude. I think her parents are wrong in not correcting her.

Lolo81 Fri 25-Sep-20 04:56:42

Janesinsworth - I’ve obviously misread your advice here and for that I can only apologise. The adult tantrum comment was based on my (admittedly now wrongly perceived) understanding as I outlined in my last comment. Therefore, given that you were not advocating ignoring a child for an extended period of time, you would not be having said tantrum.
That said I do stand by my stance that an extended period of withdrawal of affection and attention would be damaging and further alienate the child. Ignoring behaviours as I said previously (which is what the child psychologist advised) is a very different proposition.
I had a grandparent who would wield “the silent treatment” as a method of discipline and although I’d like to think I’m a fairly well adjusted adult, it did not lead to a good relationship with her later in life. So from experience it can be damaging, maybe not life changing - but it certainly showed me that my GM was not a person I could rely on, trust or feel safe with.
Again I apologise for misconstruing your initial comment and had no intention of personally insulting anyone, simply wanted to give my own opinion on the matter in the hope of helping OP.

janeainsworth Fri 25-Sep-20 07:41:33

Thanks Lolo. I think however hard we try to be objective, to some extent how we view & interpret things does depend on our own personal experiences.
I’ve always tried to distinguish between the behaviour and the person & to forgive & start over as soon as possible. I think that reassures a child that even if they’ve done something we don’t like, we still love them.

icanhandthemback Fri 25-Sep-20 14:07:00

PECS

I am surprised some posters feel that by 8yrs old a child, with no apparent special needs, does not know what bad behaviour is! Children are generally very astute in identifying good/ bad behaviour by the time they start school & certainly by age 8 yrs! I do not think psychological damage occurs by refusing to engage with a child behaving badly. In effect the behaviour the OP is describing is embryonic bullying. Imagine a child doing that consistently to another child and seeking support of a classmate. She needs to learn her behaviour does not get get her what she wants. The time for talking about the behaviour is later.

I think you'll find that the child has seen a Psychologist which suggests that the problem lies far deeper than a bit of rudeness to the Grandmother. It may seem that her behaviour is bullying but bullies often have underlying problems that cause them to take things out on others.
I think what most people are advocating on here is based on what works with the average child who can respond to the various approaches discussed with no repercussions except good ones. This is obviously a child who is in need of professional help and it amazes me that the advice of the psychologist can be dismissed by so many people who have no training. You wouldn't be so quick to do that with other medical professionals. What many are suggesting could be very damaging to the good relationship this child does have with the grandfather and will just entrench her views about her grandmother. If this child has PDA or ODD traits, you will not get the behaviour you desire by taking a firm stance.

Dinahmo Fri 25-Sep-20 14:25:27

Granjenny
Have you thought about how you treat her? My grandparents died when I was in my twenties so I had them around for a long time. My grandmother always made a fuss of me, whereas my grandfather didn't. He taught me how to develop and print photos (made with my box Brownie) and he taught me how to paint with oils.

I used to visit them regularly when I moved to London, going down after work for dinner. After a day with lots of people, I liked to be quiet for a time and would sit with Grandpa watching the news. Nana would keep asking me if I wanted a cup of tea etc etc and I did find that irritating.

Don't get me wrong, I loved both of them equally and I was never rude.

I've just remembered my in laws and their treatment of their GD. They used to criticize her and tell her what to do. She wasn't rude to them. It got to the point where she told them if they were going to do that, she would not visit them and she stuck to her word. They were from a generation that thought they were owed respect but didn't think that they owed it to their Children or GCs
As she got older,

Albangirl14 Fri 25-Sep-20 18:54:11

You need your husband to speak to your grand daughter that it is not acceptable to be rude to anyone.

BelindaB Sat 26-Sep-20 10:42:55

As someone who is knee deep in grandkids - I'd be even ruder back! How dare she! And how dare her parents?

I cannot imagine any of my grandkids speaking to me in that fashion but if they did, they'd get very short shrift from me and so would thier parents.

Nearest I've had is my youngest grandaughter, when she was a toddler. We were eating lunch from knee trays (redecorating dining room) when she wandered up and stuck her hand in my food. I smacked the back of her hand (not hard - before you all start screaming at me!) and the cheeky madam stuck her tongue out....

Her mother removed her instantly and was told not to bring her back until she'd learned some manners.

She's now 6, has beautiful manners and loves coming to nana's....

Granjenny Sun 27-Sep-20 07:23:59

Thanks everyone! It’s going to be a while til she can stay over again . I’m just not tolerating it!!! She’s been on best behaviour since last episode and been over twice with her mum but we ll see. I’ve told my husband what practically all of you have said that he has to be tougher with her! I’ll keep you posted!!! Thanks again everyone

janeainsworth Sun 27-Sep-20 07:42:52

Thanks for the update Granjenny. It sounds as though your GD has learned something already & hopefully your DH has listened to the wise ones on Gransnet smile