3 year old granddaughter doesn't like me

[grandmagorgeous]

I wondered if any of you lovely ladies have come across this as I am finding it really upsetting.
I have a beautiful, almost 3 year old granddaughter, who I love with all my heart. I have seen her almost every day since she has been born ( I have a lovely close relationship with my daughter and son in law)! In the past month my granddaughter has decided she doesn't like me. She tells me 'I don't like you' pulls her face and scowls at me. Her parents tell her off for this but it just carries on. I'm finding it heartbreaking. She will sit with anyone but me. She doesn't do this when there is just the two of us. Anyone come across situation before? xx

My youngest was velcro baby. Then decided, and told me repeatedly, at 2, that she did not love me, only daddy, and came out of daddy's tummy. Now she is 18 and a bit obsessed with only me when we are hanging out as a family. Looking forward to the day when she switches to daddy again...maybe if she buys a car...he's bloody great at fixing cars.....

I love how everyone is assuming op is visiting her daughter everyday and forcing herself on them. My parents live 5 mins from me and I see them almost everyday with my children. Sometimes they pop in for a brew on their way past, sometimes I go to theirs as they live near our favourite park. I don't see anything unhealthy with it.

When my kids said stuff like that at that age I used to sometimes say "that's a bit unkind". No big deal, not a punishment, not a telling off, just a statement of fact. I mean they need to know this stuff. You don't emerge into the world knowing that saying the words "I don't like you" out loud is unkind, you do need to be told. Christ, when they're a bit younger than that they don't even know that you can't tell what they're thinking and feeling. One of mine used to ask me if she was sleepy or happy or whatever. You know, when you're dealing with someone who has barely grasped that their thoughts are only in their own head, normal rules don't apply.

So there is a middle ground. My little one who is 2.7 often says ‘I don’t like X.’ X being his 8 year old big brother who adores him and who he adores in turn. But he also gets jealous sometimes and is working out that I can love both of them.

So I remind him that I love them both and if he doesn’t like his big brother that’s okay, his big brother loves him but maybe he shouldn’t say it to his big brother because it hurts his feelings. I don’t know how much of this he ‘gets’ but I agree that you don’t want to invalidate his feelings but also teach him basic manners.