When Your Five Year Old Son Asks If You’re Not Happy With Him

The other day, my five year old son Ewan came up to me, looked me in the eye, and asked me if I was happy with him.

This was after I’d told him off a little earlier for not listening and continuing to play with his toys after I’d asked him to clean up with Salem, his four year old sister.

This particular task is like a mental tug of war, with both kids starting the clean up process and then invariably getting distracted by the primary reason toys were invented – to play with them.

So then we...