{"id":16946,"date":"2018-07-02T14:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T21:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/datemixstaging.wpengine.com\/?p=16946"},"modified":"2021-10-29T04:10:37","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T11:10:37","slug":"clingy-boyfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Nice Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New relationships are the best. Every little moment is exciting and each of your new boyfriend’s traits and quirks makes you like them even more. You can\u2019t help it; you want to spend all of your time together. Until, that is, you don\u2019t… but they do: enter the clingy boyfriend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanting space in a relationship is perfectly normal. Spending time apart, even just a few hours or an evening here and there, makes the time you do get to see each other feel extra special. Wanting space from your special someone isn\u2019t necessarily a bad omen for your relationship<\/a>; it means that a little bit of alone time will make the time you spend together even better. If you\u2019re starting to feel like your have a clingy boyfriend, it\u2019s okay to speak up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how to deal with a clingy boyfriend without hurting his feelings or making him think you aren’t interested:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to handle a clingy boyfriend – nicely<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Consider the ways he’s being clingy.
<\/strong>There are different types of clingy boyfriends. Is yours texting you too much during the day and does he want to spend all of his free time with you? Or is it a bit more intense, like he gets jealous<\/a> really easily and he depends on you for a great deal of emotional support? Consider the ways he’s being clingy before proceeding. You don\u2019t want to come off as insensitive to your partner, especially if their behavior is more of latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Be honest with yourself about your feelings for him.
\n<\/strong>Is your boyfriend being clingy, or are you just not that into him? If you\u2019re losing interest, there\u2019s a chance you might think everything he does is annoying. So be totally honest with yourself about your feelings for him. If you\u2019re just not into the relationship anymore, it could be time to break up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Introduce the phrase \u201cme time\u201d into your relationship vocabulary.
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s not unreasonable to want a night to yourself. If your boyfriend understands your need for some \u201cme time\u201d here and there, it means he likely won\u2019t overreact to a conversation about his clinginess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Encourage your boyfriend to pick up an old hobby or meet up with an old friend.
\n<\/strong>Who knows? Maybe he\u2019ll benefit from a little \u201cme time\u201d as much as you will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. If you decide to say something, don\u2019t be coy about it.
\n<\/strong>If you still want to be in a relationship but just need a little space, be honest and tell your boyfriend just that. If you don\u2019t, or if you beat around the bush because you\u2019re afraid of hurting his feelings, the problem will remain unaddressed. If you\u2019ve never objected to or resisted your boyfriend\u2019s clingy tendencies, chances are, he might not even realize that hisbehavior bothers you. But what should you say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Explain your feelings without being mean.
\n<\/strong>The last thing you want to happen is to say, \u201cI need some space\u201d but have your partner hear, \u201cI want to see you less.\u201d You can tell him you need a little space without being mean. How? By using \u201cI\u201d statements. Try saying, \u201cI love spending time with you, but I need a little bit more independence in our relationship\u201d or \u201cI appreciate everything you do for me, but I need a little bit of \u2018me time\u2019 this week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Don\u2019t actually use the word \u201cclingy\u201d with them.
\n<\/strong>Or \u201cneedy\u201d or \u201csuffocated.\u201d If you\u2019re still genuinely interested in being in a relationship with them, it will come off as rude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, just because you want to spend a little bit more time without your boyfriend doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not a good fit. Having your own life and interests and social calendar will actually make your relationship stronger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hint #1: Don’t actually use the word clingy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":16947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[884,891,898],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dating-advice","category-relationship-advice","category-relationship-problems"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n7 Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend - Nicely!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here\u2019s how to deal with a clingy boyfriend without hurting his feelings or making him think you aren't interested in him anymore.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend - Nicely!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s how to deal with a clingy boyfriend without hurting his feelings or making him think you aren't interested in him anymore.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Date Mix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-02T21:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-29T11:10:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2018\/07\/02111559\/clingy-boyfriend.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Entenman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/elizabenten\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Zoosk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Entenman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend - Nicely!","description":"Here\u2019s how to deal with a clingy boyfriend without hurting his feelings or making him think you aren't interested in him anymore.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend - Nicely!","og_description":"Here\u2019s how to deal with a clingy boyfriend without hurting his feelings or making him think you aren't interested in him anymore.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/","og_site_name":"The Date Mix","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/","article_published_time":"2018-07-02T21:00:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-29T11:10:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2018\/07\/02111559\/clingy-boyfriend.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Entenman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/elizabenten","twitter_site":"@Zoosk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Entenman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Entenman","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/person\/37719232af9a226af04654cb30c4bb53"},"headline":"7 Nice Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend","datePublished":"2018-07-02T21:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-29T11:10:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/"},"wordCount":650,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2018\/07\/02111559\/clingy-boyfriend.jpg","articleSection":["Dating Advice","Relationship Advice","Relationship Problems"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/","name":"7 Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend - Nicely!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2018\/07\/02111559\/clingy-boyfriend.jpg","datePublished":"2018-07-02T21:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-29T11:10:37+00:00","description":"Here\u2019s how to deal with a clingy boyfriend without hurting his feelings or making him think you aren't interested in him anymore.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2018\/07\/02111559\/clingy-boyfriend.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2018\/07\/02111559\/clingy-boyfriend.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"caption":"A clingy boyfriend hugging his girlfriend tight while they both smile and lean in for a kiss."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/clingy-boyfriend\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Relationships","item":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"7 Nice Ways to Deal with a Clingy Boyfriend"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/","name":"The Date Mix","description":"Dating and Relationship Advice for Today's Daters","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#organization","name":"The Date Mix","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TDM-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TDM-logo.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"The Date Mix"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Zoosk"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/person\/37719232af9a226af04654cb30c4bb53","name":"Elizabeth Entenman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/avatar_user_79_1523036046-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/avatar_user_79_1523036046-96x96.jpg","caption":"Elizabeth Entenman"},"description":"Elizabeth Entenman is an experienced dating and relationships writer. Based in Brooklyn, she's written about a variety of topics related to online dating, love, single life, and relationships. In her spare time, you'll likely find her somewhere Instagramming her dogs! You can find some of her other work at EliteSingles and SilverSingles. Elizabeth has been working with Zoosk to create engaging content to help online daters make meaningful connections and find lasting relationships.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.elizabethentenman.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/elizabenten"],"url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/author\/eentenman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}