Question:
I stay with my son, his wife, and my granddaughter. My two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter is now becoming disrespectful.
When I greet her, she says no, won’t respond, or makes a funny face to me. The parents are correcting her, but the disrespect continues. How can I deal with this?
Response:
At 2.5 years of age, children will often appear rude, but that behavior may not be intentional. Rather, it may be an expression of their immaturity and lack of social skills. She may be communicating disrespect for you, or she may just not know how to show respect.
This is the age when children are trying out a variety of social responses and learning (hopefully) which ones are appropriate and which ones are not. Your granddaughter is most likely to learn how to show you respect from her parents’ gentle correction and her observation of how you and they show respect for one another.
So, it would be helpful for you to talk with your son and daughter-in-law about how you can show that respect when in your granddaughter’s presence. Children learn what they see, so your modeling of mutual respect- such as greeting each other with a smile and a kind word- is likely to be the best way for her to learn.
