Oedipus Complex

My 5 year old son is a creature of habit. Dare I say, bordering on obsessive at times. My wife typically reads him his stories, goes over his prayers and consoles him when feeling sad. Not because I don’t like to do these things, but because he flat our prefers her over me.

Last night, I had to fill in. Read his story of choice and proceeded to ask him what things that day made him happy, sad, mad, or worried. He replied in order “Getting a sticker for being good at school, mom not reading me a story, nothing and nothing.” You catch that. The only thing that made him sad enough to mention it was mom not reading him a story. I was ready to chock it up to ritual but then asked:

Me: Son, do you like dad?

Son: Kind of.

Me: Why only kind of?

Son: Because… it’s my choice.

Me: Is there anything I can do to help you like me more?

Son: …. No.

Me: Do you love dad?

Son: … Yes.

I have to try real hard to not feel like complete crap after this conversation. Specially when mom checked in on him and reiterated that he was not happy with Dad putting him to bed. I’ll keep trying, I know it’s a phase. I just want it to hurry up and be over.

–

Reference: Wikipedia