Posting here for traffic.
DD has had a 'thing' for years. Almost like a tic and she's had a few of them. It started when she was about 7 with a 'stretch' of the mouth. She was quite surreptitious as she did it but I spotted it. Never scolded her, just remained watchful.
This seemed to morph into a flaring of her nostrils, then to a sniffing - thinking back over the years, there's usually been a 'thing' that she does. Her recent 'tic' is a like a mini flex of her neck; it's very subtle but it's becoming a strain on her. She's in tears tonight because of it.
She's otherwise a pretty normal teenager - our home isn't a strain, plenty of happiness, lots of bickering, pretty normal environment. She works hard in school and takes her work seriously. She has a mixed friendship group - some are lovely, some are reckless teenagers but she gets on with them all, so no friendship stresses.
I had a twitch as a child which morphed into different tics over time as a way of my trying to control them (eye twitching, lip rolling - hard to describe but I remember them clearly as I was ashamed of them) but my upbringing wasn't healthy nor safe. I always thought my tics were as a result of my tense home environment but I'm wondering whether there's a genetic link because DD is very similar to me - her ways, her personality etc.
How can I help her? I want to ease this for her especially as she gets older and life gets naturally more stressful. I hate to see her so self conscious and thus just increases the intensity of her tic.
What can I do to help her?