7 year olds funny habit

[liz12]

A few months ago my daughter had thrush which was naturally uncomfortable and made her a bit 'squirmy' when sitting down - sort of twisting her legs around one another and clenching her thighs together. The thrush went but the behaviour didn't and while she doesn't do it at home much she does this funny clenching nearly all the time at school now. Even while standing in line sometimes. I've been called up a few times to talk to teacher and head teacher about what to do. The school nurse is involved who thinks it's a blip, quite normal but we'll be getting together soon to discuss some strategies to get her to stop. The headteacher says she's bright as a button, streets ahead of classmates but this has dipped as the behaviour is now affecting her work and getting attention from others. GP says nothing's wrong as far as he's concerned. She seems happy otherwise though has a tendency to be a perfectionist and get a bit stroppy about situation's she can't control. Haven't been on Mumsnet before, feeling desperate, hope you've got this far and have an opionion/advice you can offer. Other info that might help:

• We moved out of London last April, so haven't been at the school long but she's settled and making friends.
  
• Teacher's new to teaching and quite young. Daughter likes her but I think her last, more experienced teacher would have sorted this by now.
  
• Daughter's really humpy about it, denies doing it, won't discuss it.
  
• I'm at my wits' end.

[WigWamBam]

Can't help, Liz, but just bumping this up in case someone else can.

[SleepyJess]

Hi Liz

Do you think maybe a distracton technique might help? And 'ignoring' it to all intents and purporses but as soon as you (or her teacher) notices she is doing it, to ask her to do something.. or ask her a question..

She may not know she is doing it..habits can be hard to break.. esp at that age. I had some silly habits as a child.. kind of like descriptions of OCD that I have read since (not suggesting that's what this is!).. and I think sometimes habits need breaking and by someone else if the child is doing the behaviour unconciously.

It might take a while.. but IMO drawing attention to it might make it worse.

SJ x

[starlover]

liz i used to have a lot of weird habits when i was little too... i still do actually LOL...
the problem is, that half the time I wouldn't realise I was doing it. Like your DD I would get embarassed when confronted and refused to talk about it because I knew that it was odd!

When I noticed I was doing it I would try and stop... so perhaps when you notice her doing it just say something like "you're wriggling awww.dooce.cowww.snoopy.comm/gain sweetie" and leave it at that.
Don't make her discuss it, just the one comment to alert her to the fact she's doing it... but don't make a big deal out of it.
The more aware of it she is, the less likely she is to do it.

One other thought though... are you sure that the thrush is gone? or that she doesn't have something else irritating her down there?

[tregenna]

I can fully appreciate how you are feeling liz12,
my daughter is now three she began what we call 'jigging' in the car when she was about 1 year old, we changed her seat for a strap that did not go between the legs, this did not work. We then ignored her this did not work, we then told her off and pointed out when she was doing it in the car. She does it every day in the car and has now started doing it in other places. We have also tried several methods of distraction. She makes herself sore and actually reaches climax on ocasion. Please help a desperate mother