Help! Jealous 8 yr old!
 

Hi all...

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem, and if so, what they did...

I have an only child (an 8 yr old daughter) who is extremely jealous of our new puppy Bella. I've explained to my daughter (Ariana) numerous times that I love her (more then anything) but I have to spend alot of time w/Bella right now training her. It's very frustrating because she (Ari) is throwing fits and I'm at wits end trying to explain that she's my special one and so is Bella, but just in a different way. AAAAAAAAAAAACCCKKK!!!

:confused:

My children are grown now, but when I got my first Yorkie my girls were only 4 and 6 and were both very good with the puppy. Are you maybe being too cautious with the puppy and not letting your daughter hold and share in the responsibilities?

Maybe you could make a game out of it. If your dtr helps do the dusting or picks up her room while you play with the puppy then she gets to pick an activity to do with you while the puppy sleeps.

No... I don't think I'm being too cautious. Ari is allowed to walk (w/my supervision) Bella around the complex. Her and I played a game of "come and go" w/Bella that was alot of fun.

She's just... jealous. She hears me say things in that cootchie coo baby voice to Bella "Oh mama loves you... mama loves her little Bella" and gets jealous. *sighs* :sad:

That's a good idea... :)


:thumbs up

My youngest daughter is alomst 9, (sunday) and she says stuff like "it's just a stupid dog) (you love that dumb dog more then me) (why is everything about Kloey) stuff like that, but she is not mean to Kloey and she loves on her as well. But when I'm making over Kloey, or if she does something cute, then Haleigh my daughter reacts out like that.
Is Ariana the only child? Cause i have 3 daughters 15, 10, and 9, but my 9 year old is the only one who acts this way.
Like you I tell Haleigh the same thing, I love you, yes she is a dog, but she is very special to me, just like you are.
I think it's just a phase she is going through since she is the baby.
Lets hope they grow out of it !

Yea, Ari is the only child. I'm sure that has alot to do w/the prob. And yours being the youngest as well.

I sure hope this is a quickly passing phase. It's very frustrating and making a fun time w/a new puppy emotionally exhaustive!

Thankfully, Ari is very nice to Bella and plays well with her. :)

Make her feel more secure on how much you love her. Come up with some different ways of telling your daughter how much you love her and how special she is to you. Leave a long hand written note on her bed so she can find it when she goes to bed at night. Put a note in her lunch box. Put a note in with her clothes when she goes to spend the night with a friend. Take a bar of soap and write a love note to her on her bathroom mirror after she goes to bed so she can find it in the morning. I have done a lot of these for my kids. They still have the letters that we wrote (my husband wrote letters too). My youngest daughter is 13 and we still put notes in her bags (At the beginning of school I take a permanent marker and write on the inside of her notebook how much I love her and that I hope that she's having a great day. She sees that everyday.) I tell my kids what great parents they are (I have married children), how beautiful they are, how special they are. I don't hold back on the compliments. My kids are VERY special to me and I want them to know it. You'll find that it all will come back to you (anyway in my case it has). I find love notes in my clothes when I go somewhere or notes left on the kitchen table for me to find. I hope I've given you some ideas and that they're helpful.

Wow... thanks Diana! Those are some great suggestions. I do the lunch note thing... probably not enough since I've only done it once this yr. :embarasse

My family was never affectionate and I'm kind of the same way... I really need to start being more so, so Ari will feel special.

Thanks again for your wise suggestions!!!

I hope it helps. Sometimes just knowing that someone made the effort to let you know that they love you means alot more than just saying it. Plus when you write it it can be looked at over and over. I have notes my husband wrote me taped in my pantry where I see them everytime I'm in there. Or sometimes I tape it to my bathroom mirror. I like having notes too. Maybe your daughter will start leaving notes for you as well.

I don't have children but I have a 11 year old neice that lives with me. Her and I will give Georgie a bath together and we actually go on Yorkie Talk sometimes together and look at the pictures of the other Yorkies. I think that helps her to love him as much as I do. We talk about everything that is going on in her life everyday. I think that especially since she is a girl they need extra lovies and attention from their Momma :D I like all of Diana suggestions it's so important to let children (even if they are not ours) know how much we love them and how important they are in our lives. :animal-pa