Five year old girl and drama, drama, drama!

[saffrongirl]

:roll:

Someone tell me this is normal. My sweet little dd has turned into an over-dramatic teenager! She's driving me nuts! She slams doors and "UUGGGS!" me when I say no to something. She's much less apt to just go play by herself - allways wants someone to play with. And every little bump or scrape is the absolute End Of The World.

I know I just need to keep the boundaries and so on but this phase will pass right? Help!

[alegna]

Right there with you, so I vote normal (whatever that is)

ending? here's hoping...

-Angela

[LynnS6]

Yep, we've got it too.

I had a 20 minute rant yesterday about how some child at school wouldn't let her choose the songs for the CD player. Ugh.

[amma_mama]

Yes, 5yo DD is a total drama queen these days. But she was always prone to melodrama so I am not sure that, in our case, it is a phase...ugh!

I try to use a bit of humor to bring her "back down to earth", so that she sees how "out there" some of her reactions are. In other cases, like getting overly angry (and mean) when I say "no" to a request (usually more of a "demand"), I just tell her that it is normal to be disappointed, then explain the reason and tell her the answer is not going to change. If she persists, I just tell her to stay angry sitting by herself or get over it and let's move on to do xyz. That often, but not always, snaps her out of it. Other times, i just let her ride it out.

[mysticmomma]

oh yeah. "you're ruining my life, mom!"

[claras_mom]

Threads like this are so comforting to me!

[saffrongirl]

Originally Posted by claras_mom

Threads like this are so comforting to me!

Me too! Thanks everyone.

[Surfacing]

[staceychev]

She got three temporary tattoos with Valentines from kids at school. She ruined two during the application process. You should have seen her tear-stained face... "I'm never going to ever get a tattoo ever again!"

[Ellien C]

Mine hates me, doesn't feel loved and complained that she "only" got 2 valentine presents, while Daddy got 2 presents and a card. - oh - but mine is going to be 7 next week.....

[catnip]

"I hate you, and you are a horrible mama."

Six hours later ...

"I love you even when I'm mad." says I.

"I love you even when I hate you." Says she.

Thanks for posting. I feel better now too.

[Fuamami]

Originally Posted by Ellien C

Mine hates me, doesn't feel loved and complained that she "only" got 2 valentine presents, while Daddy got 2 presents and a card. - oh - but mine is going to be 7 next week.....

We had this exact same scenario this morning.

"Why did Daddy get a bigger box of chocolates?"

"Because he is bigger."

"It's nooooottttt faiiiiirrrrr!" Wailing, gnashing of teeth, crying.

She did fall asleep around 9:00, and she seems to be cheered up now, though. And she'll be 7 at the end of the month.

[SunshineJ]

Originally Posted by amma_mama

Yes, 5yo DD is a total drama queen these days. But she was always prone to melodrama so I am not sure that, in our case, it is a phase...ugh!

I try to use a bit of humor to bring her "back down to earth", so that she sees how "out there" some of her reactions are. In other cases, like getting overly angry (and mean) when I say "no" to a request (usually more of a "demand"), I just tell her that it is normal to be disappointed, then explain the reason and tell her the answer is not going to change. If she persists, I just tell her to stay angry sitting by herself or get over it and let's move on to do xyz. That often, but not always, snaps her out of it. Other times, i just let her ride it out.

Almost all of this. Only our dd doesn't really have a mean bone in her body, so we're spared the "I hate you's" and mean language for the most part. However, ever.single.bump is a MAJOR EVENT. Every.single.slight is a MAJOR EVENT. And the gods spare us if she's tired or not feeling well because things are no longer a MAJOR EVENT but now complete cause for THE WORLD TO EXPLODE. It's the constant plays for attention and drama that kill us. Being stern about it doesn't work and makes it worse. I actually heard DH in frustration today threaten her with that old "do you want me to give you something to actually cry about?" (which I totally ruined by bursting out laughing LOL). Showering her with attention and snuggles and tickling can get her out of it, but really, come ON! No one is going to spend their entire life catering to her every attention seeking whim and she has *got* to understand that! (And trust me, my kids are not lacking in receiving affection!) I really do try to work with her a lot on it and pray it's just a stage because I've met adults like this and it's never pretty!

For your commiseration, her latest event at school: she fell on the playground. Wearing jeans, snowbibs and a coat. On the snow. Somehow she hurt her backside and HAD to have an icepack from the teacher. Which she put in the front of her thigh to make it better. At least she had the right leg? Sigh.

[jillmamma]

Definitely have one of those here! Sometimes we even call her DQ.

[honeybunmom]

Mine just turned 4 in October and we have this. She speaks of herself in the third person: "Ok. Fine. Coco NEVER gets to . . . ." fill in the blank. Oy.

And then, there is the crossing of the arms across her chest and a big "Hmmmff!!!"

Then there was the wailing with occasional screaming that went on for, oh, 25 minutes last night because she couldn't get her turtle neck to stay on her head so she could pretend it was her hair. But, get this, SHE HAS LONG HAIR!!! Seriously?

And my favorite: "You just want to do what you want to do!" Parrotting what dh and I have said to her. Lovely. And you ladies tell me I've got at least another year of this if not more. Great.

[One_Girl]

My dd is seven and still very dramatic. We have talked a lot about melodrama and I stop her before she escalates too far by telling her it isn't a day for melodrama. For her, there is a fine balance between expressing herself and melodrama so I am careful to acknowledge her feelings and talk about solutions while still halting the drama.

[claras_mom]

Originally Posted by Ellien C

Mine hates me, doesn't feel loved and complained that she "only" got 2 valentine presents, while Daddy got 2 presents and a card. - oh - but mine is going to be 7 next week.....

Ohhhhh, yes. Major sobbing on Valentine's evening because she didn't get a toy. She got a heart balloon, stickers, a big fuzzy card, but no toy. But then it morphed into sobbing because she didn't get me a gift, only a card. Except that she did--she and dh did a framed photo thing. : And I guess the thing they did at school doesn't count either.

Dd gets really mad at me if I suggest she's a bit of a drama queen. It's all very genuine and in the moment, don't you know. Even if she does remind me sometimes of those dogs in "Up."

Squirrel!

[earthmama369]

Oh yeah. This month it's rolling the eyes and saying with great annoyance and exaggeration "Oh PLEASE" every time she's redirected or asked to do something she doesn't want to do. The first time I had a hard time keeping a straight face. By the 100th, it's hard to keep from growling back at her.

We actually found a homeschool drama club that starts at age 5 and enrolled her in that, plus piano lessons, and we've been encouraging a LOT of pretend play. DH also started teaching her how to play King's Quest. All in an effort to give her an appropriate outlet for all this dramatic energy. It's working, and she loves it all, but she still has some left over just for us.

[Llyra]

It's so nice to know DD1 isn't the only one. So here's another vote for I don't know if it's normal, but it sure is common.