The dominance behavior that a 2.5 year old boy can display is just astounding. Behavior w/ me present vs. just my wife is quite different. And I really don't try to encourage it either.
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It isn't just the boys...
My daughter is a nightmare for the wife.
It's not only dominance. Mothers are bonded closest, so suffer worst violation of boundaries.
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Oh yeah, she gets that latter one too. Plus, he's pretty violent (but in a usual overactive toddler way, not a "we're concerned" way), and I can take anything he dishes out during e.g. a tantrum, while my wife cannot.
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The latest thing w/ our son is that he will not eat vegetables and will often not eat much of his meals while I'm around, but will eat ANYTHING and EVERYTHING with just my wife present.
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I'm behind everyone - including strangers - on degree of compliance, no matter how reasonable the request.
But the kid -demands- I handle her meltdowns. It's funny.
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When he's home with just my wife and his baby sister, I've been told he's pretty calm and reasonable. Then the instant I step through the door he starts running around the house and being 10x louder, making demands, etc. He knows that I can play rougher and faster, I suppose.