Who’s afraid of the big Grand-daddy?
Meet my dad. We call him Grandpa V.
He’s a logical guy, with a stern demeanor. However he’s a softie when it comes to G and laughs around him in ways I’ve rarely seen growing up. I love my dad, and am thrilled that he’s so excited about his grand-son.
G on the other hand doesn’t share the same sentiment. Over the last month or so, whenever my dad approached him, G’s bottom lip would pout out and was followed, within a few seconds, by a yelp, then a cry, and then some more crying. Tears are included too in that package deal. What gives? Yes, Grandpa V has a beard… but so does Daddy. Grandpa V has slightly longer hair than (most) guys in G’s life, but it’s not like he hasn’t seen long hair before. I mean, c’mon – I was channeling Cousin It until I cut my hair a few weeks ago. So I don’t get it. It bums me out too because I’m SO excited that my dad is so in love with this little guy and is such a softie for him: he was never that way with me or my sister. I know this bugs him on the inside too.
He doesn’t do it with any of the other grand-parents.
I’m trying to show G that my dad is not scary. I sit next to my dad, holding G, showing him he’s alright. G comes around, and yet 5 min later… crocodile tears.
It doesn’t help that we live far away from the grandparents. It’s just our fact of life. I’d say “Dad, I want you and G to spent more time together”, but 350 miles tend to stand in the way of that. I’m thinking of making a Skype video call part of a weekly routine, but I don’t know that it’s the same thing – besides I can make G sit still only for so long before he wants to crawl away to a stacking cube and lick it.
So any ideas? More than welcome. Meanwhile, Dad – we love you. Please don’t be sad!
M does this with my MIL who lives far away also. And my brother. I wish I had an answer for you? We purchased a cloth photo cube made by Sassy and plan to put photos in it of relatives who M doesn’t see often, this way she will at least have photos of them and we can talk them up every chance we get.
Sorry for the long link: http://www.amazon.com/Sassy-Hello-Baby-Photo-Cube/dp/B000TD006C/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1252547259&sr=8-13
Oh, that is difficult, I wish I had some advice but I don’t know.. I think spending more time together is the only remedy. Maybe also do a poster thing with pictures of relatives that don’t live close? They have a family board with pictures for each child at daycare and they love going over and looking. My mom has a picture of my sister on her fridge (who lives in LA) and we always point to it and tell Jasper that it’s his auntie Roxy.. she’s coming to visit in October, I’ll let you know if it worked!
I was not around when my best friend had kids (living OS) and apparently her daughter was not good with strangers. But she had no issue with me when I cam home. I think it was because of all the photos etc (like the comments above) that she was constantly shown. I was only one person though.