Our Four Year Old Doesn’t Want To Be Treated Like A Baby

It started a few weeks ago. I picked him up from school and made the mistake of saying 'hey baby'. He replied in all seriousness "Don't call me baby" loud enough that his classmates and teacher could hear. At first I laughed it off.

He turned four this week, but I feel like he's going on 14. This morning, he asserted his independence again by telling my wife not to walk him to the door at school.  He caused a scene. He was adamant about not wanting her to walk him directly to the door. "Just watch me."   She said that as she inched behind him, he would flip out that she was following him to watch him. By the time he reached the door at school, she said his teacher commented that his face was red and tear streaked. As not to upset him even further, she yelled to the teacher from about 20 feet away and said "He's crying because he doesn't want me to walk him to the door anymore. I guess I'm not cool."

John is the youngest in his class. When he started pre-K this year he was 3, mixed into a class with 4 and 5 year olds.  He's picking up behavior from watching the slightly older kids and how they behave with their parents. It's understandable, but as a parent, tough to see your "baby" want to be all grown up.