Ideas? What to do when child physically attacks you?

[marlee]

My daughter is 7 1/2 and when she is tired she gets out of control.  She came at me today screaming, scratching, hitting and kicking.  I often try to keep her at a distance with my arms or legs, turn my back or get to another room.  I can't always do this if my son is with me. (I try to keep him away from her or closely supervised or she will hurt him as well)  She has always been like this (not frequently thank goodness!) and I could physically restrain her from hurting me.  But now I can't and I find if I grab her arms or trying to pull her it is too physical and she is focusing on me hurting her.

I welcome ideas, suggestions and shared experiences.  

Thanks.

[vermontgirl]

Personally, I think she needs to see a therapist. Our son is also kind of aggressive and he sees a play therapist, who also councils his dad and I regularly about parenting. I don't think it is something to be taken lightly. 

Good luck. 

[Peony]

My oldest can get physically aggressive, she is 10 now and it has been an issue for most of her life. She does see a therapist and has for years. I would really second the therapy suggestion. We had to search and try several different therapist before we found the right one. Play therapy did not work for DD1. We settled on a therapist that does a lot of mediation and guided imagery in her sessions, we've been with her over 3 years now. DD1 will request to have an emergency session when she feels she needs it but she also has become largely accountable for her own behavior. Not to say we still don't a have issues once in a while but they are minimal compared to what they used to be and her harming her siblings hasn't occurred in quite some time. 

[marlee]

Thank you for your replies. 

I wanted to really look at this right away when it happened as it may not happen again for who knows how long.

There is an understanding to why this happened (transition back to school, not enough sleep) but I don't want to use this to excuse for such unacceptable behaviour.  I will also be recording agression to her sibling (which happens much more often and vice versa) to get detailed and accurate information.

I put a call in to a counsellor that works with children and am waiting to hear back.