To be worried about 6yo DD

[mommathatwearspink]

I’ve become more and more worried about DD recently. She’s 6 and had always been a happy child, however lately she just seems quite glum and is grumpy most of the time. Of course she has period during the day where she shows happiness but a lot of the time she just seems so gloomy and the slightest thing can have her in tears.
It’s really started to get to me and I’m worried that maybe we aren’t doing enough as parents. AIBU to be worried?

Both me and my mum have suffered with mental health issues during our lives so I’m starting to worry that she is struggling with something herself too.

We have been in lockdown a while and she doesnt get to see her friends or go to school. Not really surprising shes unhappy. I wouldnt read too much into it.

My 5yo is similar atm. I think it’s to do with lockdown. It’s a high pressure situation and they pick up on all our worries. At 6 I wouldn’t worry at all about school work (y2 teacher here) but spend any time you can on fun activities. Give her opportunities to do things she’s proud of - like creating her own book or fact file or artwork if she’s into that - to boost self esteem. Channel the patience of a saint and just keep telling her it’s ok to feel grumpy, it’s ok to feel sad, whatever she says or does you still love her.
If you want to winkle out anything that’s worrying her, try the method in “how to talk so children will listen and listen so children will talk”. Basically you just listen and paraphrase, don’t try to fill in the blanks or interpret. So if she said “I feel sad today” you would say “I hear that you are feeling sad” but you would not say “why are you sad?” Or “I guess you’re sad because you can’t see your friends”. The idea is they keep going and it really works! Even with adults 😂 the idea is we all want to feel heard and understood, and it’s easier than you think to create that feeling.

Thanks wavey, I’ll try not to!

Glad other people are seeing the same thing in their DC coffee. I’ll definitely try that technique, thank you