My 5 year old son really plays up for me in a way he rarely does with his dad. When he is being tricky he just doesn’t listen to me at all, and when I am alone with the kids (he has a 2.5yr old sibling) he will become actively very difficult, hitting and kicking me not in a way that especially hurts but mainly when I am trying to do something else like change a nappy or cook tea, so more for attention I suppose. It inevitably ends with me stressed out and cross. When DH has the kids, they are basically angels for him.
I don’t think this is hugely unusual behaviour, however as DS will very much listen to DH, DH will get really annoyed and blame me, angry that I haven’t “taken control” and makes me feel rubbish about my parenting.
Firstly does anyone have any advice as to how I can get my son to listen to me. It is so deeply frustrating.
Secondly, anything I can say to my DH to make him see my POV? I am not as strict as him but I am also not a pushover and I just find the kids’ responses to me compared to DH are so different (and always have been!) and I am getting tired of being accused of not trying hard enough.