When there is specific resentment toward the mother, the child often seeks companionship and trust in other figures—the father, grandparents, uncles, friends—in a way that is striking. It’s not that the bond with others is bad. It’s just that the contrast with the distance from the mother makes it visible.
7. Reject physical contact
The hug that was once natural is now avoided. The mother who tries to embrace is met with a rigid body or a step back. Physical contact is one of the first channels to close when there is an unresolved emotional wound. It’s not always conscious: the body expresses what words cannot yet.
8. Frequently recalls negative episodes from the past
In psychology, resentment is defined as a negative and lasting feeling of anger, bitterness, and hostility toward a person or situation. One of its characteristics is the tendency to relive the past: the resentful child frequently recalls and mentions old situations that hurt them, as if those episodes haven’t run their course.
When the past appears repeatedly in present-day conversations, it is a sign that something from that past remains active and unresolved.
9. Difficulty accepting affection or gestures of closeness
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