Dear Savvy Auntie,
I'm somewhat concerned about my little nephew and how he is growing up into childhood.
He is going to be three-years-old in January, and although he's still young to develop a complete personality, I do have concerns. He is the only child to my older brother and sister-in-law. The issues are that when he misbehaves (not unusual when children want independence and learning about their environment) he is never really told "No" when he does something wrong.
Unfortunately, he doesn't eat well at home, which may be a reason for extreme bouts of energy and frustration when he can't get what he wants. This means he has no real breakfast because my brother as a teenager didn't do breakfast. He only eats when he and his family go out for meals, which is frequent, to fast food restaurants.
I would like to speak to his mother about it, however, she is from Iran and has problems with the English language, as well there are unknown issues she has with me and my family since before the baby was born that also makes things challenging.
These issues I believe came about because my brother met her on a dating site via Facebook, then he gave up three reasonable jobs over a period of time to go to India, where she was then living. Then he got her here with a lot of help from my parents, but she is mostly a stranger to us because her background is complete opposites to ours and she has nothing in common with my brother.
As for my brother, well he and I have drifted apart over the years because of his pursuing women and trying to be something he's not in wooing these women. The crux there is that he gets very sensitive when I try to talk him about his son. What shall I do? Do I need to worry when my nephew goes to school will be rebel against rules and discipline that he doesn't get home?
Anonymous