Interesting thing DN does

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2004
Interesting thing DN does
Sat, 02-25-2006 - 11:54am

Have any of you with kids ever noticed them doing something like this?

I was watching our niece the other day. If you remember, her dad verbally abused my husband's sister. I noticed something interesting. Whenever she talked about something good her dad did (teaching her to call 911) she would call him Daddy. However, if she was talking about something bad he had done, she'd call him by his first name- "Al". As in "Daddy buys me ice cream. Al yelled at Mommy for leaving a crumb on the counter."

My theory is that her little brain is trying to cope with the whole thing- she wants to believe in "Daddy", but she knows he's a jerk, so she copes with that by telling herself that Daddy didn't do that, Al did. I'm wondering if I should bring counseling for her up to SIL? I just don't know if this is a normal thing or not.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com