Tired of the Crying

My son did the same thing with his daddy at this age. It is completly normal, but proably seems to be more magnified to you. He would yell, I don't want you i want daddy. It was emabarassing. what we did was we all sat down with him, my husband, me and my son, and we talked about it and my husband reassured him. Is his real mother in the picture? It sounds like to me that he may have some fear that his dad may leave him or he may not see his dad like he does not see his mother? My husband made a promise to our son that he would never leave him and would always be with him (great idea about the shirt or maybe a special toy or cuddly) through the object. This really helped my son. Funny thing is now he is going through this with not wanting me to leave and not wanting his dad. So don't worry, and this too shall pass.............

my oldest did this at this age (my youngest is there yet). I firmly belive that boys tend to i.d. with the "men" around them at this age. For example, Kaden would not go to Sunday School nursery - we would get paged over and over and over. But, when he moved to a different class with a man as a teacher, it all changed. He like going in there. He still has issues being left - but the man seemed to help. I belive it all starts with Dad, the man they feel the most comfortable with and then they start to realize there are other men, and other people. It's a normal developement issue. It's not against the mom, or you (most likely) and dad just need to maybe announce when he is leaving and when he will be back and what he is doing. That worked on Kaden (it took a while) but now my husband says, I'm going to work I'll be back after your snack and I'm taking my car. I love you, see you very soon. Have a good day. Now, my son can receite where dad is, how he got there and when he will be back. That helped us. Good luck (it might take a while for him to get used to the above approach - it's not instant they have to see it work before it calms them).

Both of our children went through this sort of separation anxiety at roughly the same age (not quite 2). My neice (almost 2) is going through it right now with her mother. Keep reassuring your stepson that daddy will be back, have your husband spend a lot of cuddle time with his son and just be patient. It will pass.

This may sound silly but it helped with a couple kiddos at a school where I used to work. Dad would have one of his t-shirts, put some after shave or whatever on it so it smells like daddy, and the kiddo would put on the shirt when they started missing their daddy. I told them, "Daddy can't be here right now but he left you a hug for when you missed him". Scent is a strong memory, so it worked perfect. Maybe give it a shot. I know it sounds strange.

i'm sorry i have no advice, but i do have an 18 month old that is discovering what his "opinion" is, and i think he's hit the 2's early! your stepson is about exactly the same age as my ds (mine will be 2 sept 24th). it probably is honest to goodness separation anxiety, but daddy needs to talk to him and be clear, loving, and firm. you don't want him to get the idea that if he screams, daddy will come running. it's okay for him to not be with daddy sometimes. he's figuring out that he can make people do things, so it's probably best that you don't cater to it every time and get him used to that. sorry if that sounds callous but i'm already in the power-struggle phase so that was the first thing i thought of!