Being Mean and competitiveness - 05/06/12 12:20 PM
My dd6 has always been pretty competitive, but lately it's seems worse, maybe due to being out at parties, etc. I feel it more acutely that she is not behaving.
She doesn't want to share, and will often make demands for the biggest piece of whatever is being served. Further and worst of all, she will sometimes make outright mean remarks with her closest cousins, whom I suppose she thinks will tolerate this rudeness.
I have taken to explaining in detail and quietly/nicely how and why we may be competitive, why people don't like it if you say mean things, even if you don't mean them...and so on. And continue to work on praising when she IS polite.
It reminds me of when my son had difficulty making/keeping friends because he really didn't understand basics of the back and forth of a conversation; when to stop talking, etc.
Is this normal for a 6 year old girl, or is it possible this is one of many subtle variations on 'social delay' that gifted kids and kids with lds sometimes have? It seems a bit extreme to me. Maybe I am trying to interrelate too many issues and they are not so related:
competition
grumpiness
perfectionism
wanting to be better/get more attention than ANYone else
selfishness
She doesn't want to share, and will often make demands for the biggest piece of whatever is being served. Further and worst of all, she will sometimes make outright mean remarks with her closest cousins, whom I suppose she thinks will tolerate this rudeness.
I have taken to explaining in detail and quietly/nicely how and why we may be competitive, why people don't like it if you say mean things, even if you don't mean them...and so on. And continue to work on praising when she IS polite.
It reminds me of when my son had difficulty making/keeping friends because he really didn't understand basics of the back and forth of a conversation; when to stop talking, etc.
Is this normal for a 6 year old girl, or is it possible this is one of many subtle variations on 'social delay' that gifted kids and kids with lds sometimes have? It seems a bit extreme to me. Maybe I am trying to interrelate too many issues and they are not so related:
competition
grumpiness
perfectionism
wanting to be better/get more attention than ANYone else
selfishness