Unfiltered Story #294082

I love my goddaughter very much, but she lives in a different state 10 hours drive away from me. So in addition to finding reason to justify visits we would do video chats with her every Sunday. The willful child insisted on carrying the phone I called her, I helped her mom find an app to lock the screen so she couldn’t accidentally hang up while carrying me around. At 2 years old she always seemed to love these calls, we would sing and ‘dance’, she would pretend to knock me down by tapping the screen until I feel, and she really loved doing ring around the rosie, it was quite cute how engaged she could be video chatting with me….usually.

Unfortunately one of her favorite ‘game’ was to bury the phone under her toys or in a cupboard and leave me there for long periods of time. I’d try to talk to her while buried but she never really responded (we found out later she needed to get tubes in her ears due to a fluid build up which was making her somewhat hard of hearing, so she likely couldn’t understand me when I was buried). If her mother or grandmother tried to get the phone out from where she hid it the girl would run over and tell them “No!”, insisting I stay buried. Not surprisingly I didn’t like this ‘game’ as much as our other games, I didn’t understand why she would insist on video chatting with me just to bury me in the dark where I couldn’t see or talk to her.

One particular incident after locking me in her toy chest for awhile she finally pulled me out only to immediately stuff me into a plastic bag and carry me around that way while still leaving me unable to see or really talk with her. Tired of spending so long staring at a black screen while being ignored I suggested I leave:

Me: “[god daughter] you’re still not talking with me. I don’t like being in the dark without anyone to talk to. If you’re done playing with me should I get off the phone?”
Mother: “You hear that, [godfather] is going to go if you don’t let him out to see you”
* I could here a sudden flurry of motion and then my goddaughters horrified face showed up on screen*
goddaughter (in a desperate pleading voice): “No go! No go!”

That’s how I knew no matter how much she seemed to be ignoring me when she would hide me she still was clearly enjoying ‘playing’ with me. While I worked with her mom to try to teach her it wasn’t polite to ignore me, or anyone, for as long as she was I did resolve to tolerate it on occasion because she still clearly was enjoying our time together even when she seemed to ignore me.

A few years later she is now nearly 6 and still likes to turn her tablet so it’s facing the grown while laughing as I, jokingly, complain I’ve gone blind. She will even laugh as she slowly hangs up on me, only to call me back a few minutes later. It turns out my strong willed and assertive goddaughter simply liked, and still likes, being in control. I suppose when you’re a young kid mostly dependent on the whims of your parents there is something thrilling in being the one who has the power to make the decisions or put someone else in ‘time out’ on occasion.

Oh well, I suppose there are worse problems then having a goddaughter who loves spending time with you while also asserting her independence.