Venting and advise

[1manand1child]

Hi all,

I'm a single dad to a 9yr old girl.

We've both had rough journeys, but for this year has provided a lot of stability for us and I've put a lot of effort into her well being and for the past 6 months she's been the best I've seen her.

Moving on to recently she's become so needy! Every time I try and wind down all I can hear in the background is DAAAD... DAAAAD... DAAAD and it's becoming unbearable and it's normally for things that she can do for herself or stuff she already knows?

I'm the go to person in my family and the one who normally looks after everyone, so I don't normally get a lot of me time, but I'm a big Liverpool fan and try to watch most games where I can.

It was the biggest game of the season, so I made sure the house was cleaned, dinners were made and pack lunches packed, so I can have a cheeky glass of wine and she's going hysterical trying to get me to look for things, she wasn't feeling well (but soon recovered) and was so demanding, she could see how into the game i was?

My first thoughts is that I overcompensated with parenting at first, so I think I might have to cut the taboo a bit? Does anyone else have any ideas?

Sorry for the rant

No she's just a 9 year old. Your watching football shes not centre of attention. So she kicks off. As stupid as it sounds go back to play. Play with her or 10 mins a day she won't crave the attention as much .

Get her an iPad, or her own TV. As a single parent, yes you are the go-to person but she is 9 , and quite capable of looking after herself while you watch the match. Just make sure there is a balance - you spend quality time with her, and then you expect her to leave you alone when something special is on the TV. Good luck .

I don’t know how much support you have but you could get a baby sitter to watch her for the ‘more important’ games.

The other advice given is good to, try it out and see what happens.

Best of luck!

Omg. I so understand. Mine are younger and I can be nice all day. But at 6.59 I just run out of energy.

I think the thing to remember is sometimes they just need to check in with you. Sometimes they just want 5 minutes. It just doesn't feel like that at a time.

I think id train her to respect your important time. 'I'm doing this. I'm doing it nicely or in an angry way. Would like us to share a special time before or after it?

Sorry. I'm not explaining it very well. Definitely dont give up on your time out though.