Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Ughh, brain spurt time!

This is really just a vent, so apologies in advance!

Dd is having a brain spurt, which seems to happen 4 or 5 times a year and each time, for the duration of the development my normally funny, easy going daughter turns in to another child. NOTHING can go right for dd (as far as she's concerned). She can't find books she likes, in a house full of things to do there is nothing she wants to do, she gets mouthy, her friends irritate her, she flings herself across the room at the remotest error or if she doesn't win a game, any suggestion dh or I make is wrong, wrong, wrong. This will last for 2 or 3 weeks. And once it's done I'll have to relearn where she's at and how she works all over again. She's only just about to turn 6. I'm not looking forward to 14. Sigh...

I used to hope that perhaps the turbulence was getting itself out of the way at an early age.

Hold tight and wear your O2 mask. Try and pamper mom, ok?

Smiles,
Grinity

There is a description of this exact issue in "raising your spirited child", the book suggests thinking of your child as a pyramid of blocks - when you add a new block, to have a sound structure you can't just plonk it on top, you have to knock down the old tower and build a new one from the ground up to include the extra block. Helped me to understand and be patient, though you clearly see what is happening already.

We used to always know when our ds (now 11yo) was making a learning breakthrough because of the *screaming*, usually associated with discussing the breakthrough topic. Apparently it is very upsetting for him to let go of his misconceptions. Seems like it happens less often now than when he was younger -- I'd like to say he is getting more mature, but it could be that he just isn't learning as much...

Two words: Early. Bedtime.

Good luck. We've been there.

I hate to even mention this but my dd 7 is the same way and when talking to my child guru she mentioned that girls start cycling years before they go through periods.... We are going to start tracking it because it does seem like PMS sometimes. Growing up too fast!!

I find the same thing with my ds's. For us I notice it particularly at birthdays and half birthdays. Having children who are 6 apart in birthdays was probably not a good idea.

Giftodd - I feel your pain. Hang in there!