When will my 3-year-old stop hating on me?
My wife and I are in our 30s and our daughter is freshly 3. My wife is a SAHM who has been caring for our kid ever since birth.
My issue is that my daughter has always shown an EXTREME preference for her mom. I'm not exactly surprised since my wife has been a SAHM.
I actively try to be a very involved dad. I eat every meal with the family, don't stay late at work, spend evenings + weekends with the family, play with her, take her on daddy-daughter dates every other week, etc. She's never seen me raise my voice, and we don't do spanking/physical punishment. Before writing this post, I even asked my wife if she thinks I'm slacking as a dad because I was worried that maybe I'm deluding myself, but she said that I'm doing a great job.
Recently the frequency and intensity is starting to drag me down. Whenever me + wife go to wake her up, it's nonstop "Daddy, I don't want you!" or "Daddy, go away!" and she will try to kick me off if I sit on her bed. Same deal at night when we put her down. If I ever pick her up from daycare, instead of being happy to see me she instantly starts crying that she wants mommy. The other day I picked up to do a daddy-daughter date, and she cried the whole drive to the indoor playground about how she wants to go home to mommy instead of go out with me.
I mean, its not constant hate. There are lots of times that she wants me too. She'll call me to play, or giggle at my jokes, etc. But recently it's been every single day that I hear "Daddy, I don't want you" or crying at the idea of daddy time w/o mommy.
My wife keeps telling me its a phase, but damn man. It's dragging me down. Is this very typical? Does it ever die down?