Does this strike you as a little bit odd?

[StargazyDrifter]

A colleague has a 2 year old. Probably while walking home from nursery today, they or the toddler mistakenly called my mobile; these things happen. While I was fumbling around trying to work out whether anyone was there on the call and who it might be, I heard the adult say to the child (referring to himself): "Oh X, don't you think daddy takes such good care of you? Isn't daddy wonderful? Come on, daddy always does things for you, isn't that right? Don't you think daddy deserves lots of cuddles?". I promptly hung up, somehow feeling a bit uneasy. Odd way to talk to a toddler?

Sounds tongue in cheek to me!

I don't think it's odd.

Seems a bit weird and overbearing yeah.

Yeah It's a bit odd but maybe they were feeling a bit depressed and were looking for a bit of reassurance? It's not odd enough that I would dwell on it. Not as odd as saying it to a 4 year old.

Would you worry if it had been mummy talking

If you look hard enough you'll find something, but really there's nothing to see here.

I think the toddler must have just said “I don’t like you daddy” or similar.

Is there a contact battle in progress? It sounds like they’re prepping the child to say all this for the other parent.

I'm certainly not looking for anything untoward, and I doubt it'd make a difference in my mind whether it was mummy or daddy. It just sounded kind of manipulative almost.

As far as I know, the parents are happily together!

Yes it sound manipulative to me.

There's a lot of it about sadly OP. A woman in my DDs old nursery used to say to her DD "You're not my best girl anymore" if she was naughty or whatever. Funny enough this child was terribly manipulative and used to exclude others. Learned from her Mum obviously.

I think it's a bit naff but wouldn't be concerned, exactly. People can feel a bit unappreciated if a toddler is going through an awkward stage, and it might have been being said non-seriously.

Dh would say this if dd wouldn't give him a hug and he absolutely adores her. I think it's perfectly ok...have been known to say it myself also!

It doesn't sound odd to me at all. You sound a bit odd for listening in though!

Odd way to talk to a toddler?

The whole scenario is decidedly odd. Toddler is walking along the street playing on a phone while their parent is delivering a weirdly needy monologue to them.

Sounds like something that might be said straight before ‘Right. Enough. If you don’t get in this car seat right now I’m leaving you here...’. Exaggerated ‘niceness’ while actually wanting to scream... do you have kids? I think it probably only sounds ‘odd’ if you’ve never had to deal with a trying 2yo on a daily basis 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sounds like he knew you had answered and was jokingly 'chatting' to his son about how incredible he is.

Oh no Op. Call police. 🤦🏽‍♀️FFS

Maybe his child had a tantrum moments beforehand and said something unkind to him and hurt his feelings? I once heard a child of less than 3 years shout at his Mum repeatedly "I HATE YOU!" She was in tears after about the 5th time he said it.

Sounds either manipulative or needy. Neither is a good approach.

Are you sure the toddler was there?

It sounds odd to me, needy or manipulative and I don’t think it’s appropriate to involve your kids in that. And I’m an ex childminder with 4 children of my own so plenty of experience with grumpy toddlers PP.

Imagine if someone you knew at work or a relative spoke like this to you.
...I did do those emails for you, I am the best colleague aren't I....I work really hard for you....etc etc. Unless it was (without doubt) done for a joke it would be extremely manipulative and needy. I doubt a two year old would get the joke so a one off, whatever. You don't make your children feel they have to love you because I of what you do for them. To be upset because a toddler says they don't like you says more about your own emotional state.
I'd be about it but would just forget about it really. Parents are all different.

It does sound a bit odd. But the toddler might have just said I HATE YOU. Mine used to do that.