Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Q: I have a two-and-a-half-year-old boy. He is an only child. Both myself and his father are in our early 40s. Sometimes when we are both in the room with him, say the kitchen/ living room, he will ask one of us to leave the room, as in “Go away Mammy/Daddy”, and will slam the door in our face. He will then remain in the room with one of us, if the other person tries to come back into the room he will say, “Get out”. Is this normal?

A: Children are naturally rivalrous of their parents’ attention and every child at some time or another will play their parents off one another, or seek to be closer to one parent rather than the other. This is particularly normal developmentally for a child at two and a half years of age who is beginning to be aware of the “power” relationships in the family.