Some kids just seem to be pessimistic. My DS9 who is treated for anxiety issues will have terrible crying fits because his sister "has more fun than he does". Not that she gets to do more things. It's that it's more fun for her.
One day, he was playing in his room, having just come in from outside (he was 6 at the time), he looked out his window and saw his dad and sister playing outside. He started crying that "dad never plays with him".
It's hard to live with a pessimist and not question your parenting abilities. And worry about the introspective teen years ahead.
But the real drama queen is DD7. She is optimistic and upbeat, but turns on a dime. Anything that befalls her is a tragedy. She didn't get her first choice of projects at school, fussed about it for two days, and wrote a story about her great pain. She has intense emotions in all directions, so I don't worry as much about her as I do about Mr Pessimistic.
GS9 has seen an student counselor at school for most of the time he's been in school. There is a new one each year, they work for a year as an internship. I had several reservations about the one he saw this year, beginning when she said, "people aren't naturally pessimistic, they don't want to be pessimistic". I'm sorry, but I think some people are born that way. Most people don't want to be
around a pessimist, so it's to their advantage to learn how to cope with their initial response to life, but I think they can learn to be more optimistic. GS9 is making much progress this year, and more rapidly since he stopped seeing the school counselor!
