Have you adopted a child with passive aggressive behaviors? It can be difficult not to get angry when the child breaks your things several times a week. Perhaps your child is one who seems to enjoy making special messes that you find in the morning. Have you ever noticed that your child’s passive aggressiveness seems to get worse, or episodes more frequent, after one of your angry outburst? Unfortunately, your righteous anger seems to feed their behaviors. Therefore, the secret to reducing or eliminating your adopted child’s passive aggressiveness is to minimize your reactions.... more

I just commented on one of Marie’s blogs last week about this, “It's Not Always About Adoption!” I confessed to Marie that after 14 years of foster care and adoption I sometimes still cannot tell the difference between an adoption issue and a child issue. I made the wrong call today, a couple of times. Bring out the crow; I’ll eat it for supper. My 10-year-old daughter, adopted in November, was having quite a day. I thought her behavior was passive aggressive. Yup, I thought she was... more

My blog-mate Julie’s recent post on “Food Wars” reminded me of the clothing wars we are currently engaged in at our house. While I realize the obsessive compulsive (OCD) aspect of the behavior, I have to wonder if it is also passive aggressive behavior. Why would a young girl want to wear the same outfit several times a week when it isn’t especially cute, flattering, or have a designer label?

Dani, our ten-year-old daughter has been wearing... more

There was a time, several years ago, when my home didn’t feel like a home. We had an older child living with us who had passive aggressive disorder. Several times a day, either we would find little surprises, or somebody would get hurt. Of course, each incident was an always an accident.

One of the younger children would accidentally have a finger shut in a kitchen drawer or a car door. One of the younger children would accidentally be stepped on or pushed over. Occasionally, a child might accidentally be locked in... more

I vacillated for weeks before we went to family camp about whether we would take the nine year old with us or use respite care for her that week. I am always willing to provide respite care for the children of other families, but rarely am I able to convince myself to use it. I struggle with good parent versus bad parent syndrome whenever I consider not taking one of my children on a family outing.

This was supposed to be my week of vacation and I really needed time to relax whether on the beach or in our rented cottage. The... more

I’ve always said that I prefer “in your face” confrontation from children as opposed to passive-aggressive behavior. My theory is, at least I know what they’re thinking. We’ve only parented a few of the “in your face” children but, we’ve had plenty of passive-aggressive children.

Passive aggressive disorder is said to stem from specific childhood stimuli such as overbearing parents or parents with substance abuse issues. I guess it makes sense that most of the... more

When your toddler brings you flowers, just flowers, no stems, you think it is cute and sweet. You’re happy that your toddler is beginning to think about how others feel. You tend to cherish these memories when your child is grown. But, how would you feel if your eight or twelve year old child continuously brought you flowers without stems?

If she was trying to make me happy, then I should be grateful. Yet, I always wondered if she was really trying to make me happy, or if it was passive aggressive behavior? Feelings of guilt,... more