I'm Just Not "Clicking" With One Child

[adnilwis]

Do you ever have that one kid that just kind of drives you bonkers? I'm really struggling with this one dcg(2). She honestly is not a bad kid and her parents are ok too. No major problems. It sounds terrible, but I think it's this girl's personality that's getting me. She's the baby of the family and I can just tell she doesn't have to do anything for herself and is constantly told how wonderful she is. She cries at any redirection and has no idea how to play with toys normally. She is always mouthing toys and has a number of weird tics that she just repeats all day. It just makes her tough for me to deal with when all of my other kids are so tough and independent. I've had her for almost a year, though she did take the summer off and I still cannot just find anything I like about her. I have no good reason to term, so anyone have any tips on how I can adjust my attitude? It's not affecting my level of care for her, just my blood pressure. Have you had any kids that you didn't get along with great, that you ended up liking?

Wow I could have wrote this myself. I have had this dcb since he was 3 months. He is now 20 months. He was a easy going happy baby but I struggle to get him to laugh or even smile. He flat out refuses to say words he knows how to say and won't participate in things but then whines when we are done doing it. He very rarely interacts with me but will with the 3 and 4 year old boys. He's an only child and mom says he never whines at home but it's a constant thing here. He doesn't know how to play normally with toys if at all.

[NillaWafers]

The girl I wrote about is about to turn three and now she's great. It really did take her a long while to settle into care though.

[Indoorvoice]

The girl I wrote about I'm terming at the end of the week. It never got better, though I tried really hard to like her! At this point it is affecting the care I give her and affecting my stress so it's time to go. It's not fair to her to have a caregiver that doesn't "care" that much for her.

[adnilwis]

I agree. It's not fair to have kids you care for if you don't like them. In my case it seems almost mutual. He really could care less I'm in the room most of the time unless he gets bothered by someone or I go upstairs or in a different room. Then he wants to know what I'm doing. It's been 17 months and we still haven't clicked. He shows no affection toward me with very little eye contact and very little smiling at all.