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Previously mature 7 yo now acting totally immature


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My dd has always been mature for her age and generally well behaved. She just finished first grade in public school and her behavior has gone down the tubes since last fall. Some of the behaviors I am concerned about are speaking in a babyish tone of voice, asking obnoxious questions just to be silly, and making annoying noises. There are times when she is still very well behaved, but when she's just around the house with us, the behavior is tough to put up with. She was far more mature at age 5 than she is now at age 7. Any advice?

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Yes. Keep her home. Gently correct inappropriate behavior. Expect it to take up to 18 months to undo the damage done by her short time in school.

 

I don't know that I'd blame it on school. IME, some kids just hit an obnoxious phase around that time. My (always homeschooled) 7 yo is doing some similar things, and my 9 yo son went through it too.

 

My advice? Ignore the obnoxious, reward the good, march forward and live through it. It will get better :001_smile:

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I think part of it has been caused by school (I have noticed that her classmates frequently do the babyish voice thing). I think the other part is that her silly behavior gets a reaction out of her 3 y.o. sister. I don't think she is doing it for attention from me. We spend quite a bit of time together, and keep busy with interesting things. I have a friend who homeschools, and her dd of a similar age is tough at this point, too, so I'm not convinced that school is completely the root cause, but it certainly didn't help with behavior this year.

 

That being said, I would love to homeschool, and I think it would alleviate some of it. Dh is opposed to it, so I am slowly fighting the battle with him.

 

When she's a teenager, I'll probably be wishing my problems with her were this little, but it is still driving me a bit nuts!

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I don't know that I'd blame it on school. IME, some kids just hit an obnoxious phase around that time. My (always homeschooled) 7 yo is doing some similar things, and my 9 yo son went through it too.

 

My advice? Ignore the obnoxious, reward the good, march forward and live through it. It will get better :001_smile:

 

Although that *could* be true, it is also true that some children who behave that way after even a short time in school turn into different people when they come home to stay. It was that way for my dd; in fact, Dr. Moore used to talk about that.

 

My dd's "normal" obnoxious behavior was nothing like the behavior she took on because of school.

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The stuff I've read about children's brain development suggests that most kids move forward in fits and starts. And when they're really in the midst of a period of growth, they often regress, only to have a big leap forward. Obviously some of what's going on could be changes in her environment - school, friends, etc. - but some of it may be internal stuff going on.

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