[EHHMom]

Anyone have a bright, engaging child who still acts babyish when she is nervouse or wants attention? Not only does she switch into baby talk like when she's talking with a teacher or adult neighbor, she often does funny things with her hands and moves her hands and feet as if to tip toe. Yes, it's annoying but it's worrying me because the other girls are starting to mature in a nice way, a more serious or studious way and she's being left out of their activities because of her behavior. I'm talking about some wholesome activities like scouts, clubs. Nothing catty. And she's feeling left out -- claims she does not know why she does these things.
Any advice, any books on the subject you'd recommend?
How can I help her without being overbearing?
Thank you!
EHH

 

[loraxc]

Could she have some issues with anxiety, perhaps?

 

[eepster]

I'd be more upset with the people who are excluding her from scouting for what are pretty minor behavior problems. I mean, I could see if she was constantly hitting the other girls or was throwing tantrums, but baby talk and tiptoeing? I really think the troop leader needs to be a bit more tolerant and patient.

In general I would tend to say the best way to deal with this kind of thng is to not respond to baby talk and only respond to 8 yo speech, and give gentle reminders when she seems to not notice her behavior.

 

[EHHMom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by loraxc Could she have some issues with anxiety, perhaps?

Yes, anxiety is big. We've actually had some success w/ homeopathy lately, and thank goodness. Her body is so much less tense and it's seemed to have addressed some emotional outbusts as well. We're making progress on that front but these other behaviors persist.

Her teachers and the scout leaders and I have been going the route of asking nicely that she talk like an 8 year old and ignoring the other behaviors. Hopefully it will click eventually.

I guess for me it hurts to see the other kids look at her like she's weird -- an they're not mean or snooty kids. I think they've moved on and she hasn't.

Trying to devote a lot of mom + me time to her on this vacation.
thanks for the the input.