Sibling Separation anxiety
Holy crap, y’all. I was not ready for this. I realize anytime I drop Tony off at day care, he may explode into tears. And ANYTIME Sarah does, he goes into hysterics, but this utterly floored me like being hit by a cow…with big utters…wait for the mental image…BAM!
Sarh had a show Sunday evening. Fabulous production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. She’s all grown up and doing Shakespeare. Anyway, it was a Jack weekend, so I took him home. Tony went with me, because of the afore mentioned obligations the talented Sarah Brown had.
We drove the 30 minutes without incident; sing songs and swapping tales of our opossum killing dog. Then, as we rounded the corner and Jack’s other house was in sight, Tony went nuts. He started screaming and reaching for his brother. Jack didn’t know how to act. It was heart breaking.
Tony cried for about 15 minutes after we dropped Jack off…I just said jack off…until I started sing “twinkle, twinkle”…over and over…He cheered up and the rest of the evening was realitivly normal.
Then, as I came in the house from work yesterday, I hear the following:
“Who is that…Is that daddy?” Sarah asked.
“Jack?”
“No it’s daddy…”
“”Jack? Jack?”
He was disappointed that it was me when he came around the corner. He looked up at me and pointed to the door behind me…”Jack?”
For real…I was not expecting this. I tried to find info online, but everything is based on a traditional sitting…older brother goes to school and younger brother is upset, but sees him in a few hours. Ours is different, but I can’t imagine unique.
What do I do? How do I make Tony understand what’s happening, or can I?
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
This made me cry. I remember watching MY brothers and sisters going off to school and leaving me behind. Devastated, I would watch through the window for hours for them to return.
But look, I turned out okay, right? RIGHT?!!
August 13th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Sibling sepration anxiety is very common. Some natural anxiety remedies to look into are St.John’s Wort, SAMe, L-Theanine, and Tryptophan. There’s also cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and programs like Panic Away and The Linden Method, to name a few. Hope this helps!
December 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Dog separation anxiety is more common than you think however it is often overlooked and therefore not properly dealt with.
Find out more here Dog Separation Anxiety