My daughters behaviour

[Isitjustmethenhey]

Please can someone tell me if this seems *Nirmal/typical behaviour for an almost 5 year old.
At the weekend, I went for a quick shopping trip with Dd. As a treat we stopped at a coffee shop and she had a small drink, we used to do this when she was younger and she sat well and still. She was lying all over the sofa, laughing crazily, I was asking her to please sit up and sit nicely in a cafe etc. I ended up just hurrying and leaving. We went to a clothes shop to quickly pick some leggings up for her, she was trying to crawl around the shop and lick the mirror, saying she was pretending to be a dog. I ended up rushing through the shopping. Later on in the car she was fine and in another shop she was ok.
She goes through periods of this behaviour where she almost uncontrollably silly and I can’t get her to focus.
Is this normal and I’m expecting too much of her?
It just feels every little thing is so difficult with her sometimes

*Normal

She also has days (most days) where she literally never stops..moving/talking, getting over excited etc. The other night she couldn’t sleep for a long time as she said she had a song going around her head, she has this quite a lot. She’s just so intense and extra I suppose.

5 year olds are extra and annoying unfortunately, especially depending on their mood. Some days my almost 5 is fine and his behaviour is great, other days he starts the day at 5am pretending to be a hedgehog and seems to have switched his ears off

I have to say, nothing from this thread sounds 'out there' to me and couldn't bring myself to get annoyed about any of it, especially the bit in the cafe where it sounded like she was trying to enjoy herself!

she was being happy in the coffee shop and you're the one who spoiled it

I have to say that this part of the OP made me feel quite sad for the child

@lailamaria She wasn’t being happy though, she seemed out of control to me, lying down, making strange noises. Maybe it is me then 🤷🏻‍♀️I feel I’m quite an easygoing person, but would you think it ok to crawl around Primark floor and lick the mirrors. Am I supposed to let her do these things 😬

Yes i have an almost 5 year old and my god it just sounded exactly like her, she has these moments where she wants to be a dog and crawls about the house like an eejit lol, and sometimes shopping her ears apparently dont work. So dont fret. This is completely normal and like everything else...she will grow out of it.

Standard annoying af 5 year old

I get where your coming from but we all have different levels of patience.

she sounds like a typical 5 year old

@BossMUM7 Ok, thank you so much. I just feel in the coffee shop was really out of control
I feel guilty now 😢it’s so hard to describe the behaviour though

Totally, annoyingly normal!

Sounds standard to me OP but I agree I wouldn’t want her to crawl around & lick the mirrors! To be honest when my DD goes through these sorts of phases I do just avoid doing those things with her & explain why. Because she likes going to the shops & cafe she does then seem to be able to control it!

I know exactly where you are coming from, i just bend down to her level and make eye contact (always works) explain to her/him what you need them to do. Works everytime lol, hope it helps a little!

I’d have said that was really unusual! Didn’t you insist she sat nicely? Didn’t lick the mirrors etc? Sounds like quite bad behaviour and I wouldn’t expect that of a child who knows better.

Yes, that's standard. I try to divert the 'extra' energy into something tolerable of possible, anticipate the situation that is. So I would take things to the coffee shop that would give it an outlet... for my DD whose internal imaginary world is very vivid a favourite cuddly toy who can join us at the table and even be in the conversation would work. I know it's a similar strategy that you would use for a toddler, but that's ok.

It’s as if you’re talking about my 6 years old! She can be the exact same (including pretending to be a dog! 😂). I think it’s normal behaviour they will grown out of it. Hoping so anyway! You’re not alone. Some days she’s calm and sensible ….. other days she’s wild! Xx

Sounds like my 5 year old! 100% fine just using her imagination!

My DD1 - would not have done this at 5

My DD2 - would definitely have done this at 5, and can sometimes be equally silly at 8!

I wouldn't feel guilty OP. It's fair enough if you told her to stop mucking around or you'd have to leave the cafe/shop!

Ime it's normal for 5 year olds to be very random in behaviour and to go from one extreme to the other really quickly multiple times a day.
It's also normal for them in some ways to be less mature than when they were younger. If you took her to coffee shops regularly when she was 3 but rarely go now, I wouldn't be surprised that she was out of practice with regards to how to behave.
I know that you went shopping for leggings but in future I would buy online. It sounds like she did not enjoy the trip the way that an older child might have.

Ps I’m not saying I wouldn’t enforce a boundary around it if the behaviour was dangerous or began to other other people. So if the crazy café behaviour was impacting on other people, I’d give say two warnings and then we’d leave if s/he didn’t stop.

Feeling a bit relieved to be honest…I don’t know where this change in behaviour comes from, it was out of nowhere. Tbf she was tired but they’re so changeable 🙈

She just seems a bit overexcitable and maybe a little bit young for her age. Does she get on ok at school?

@PinkSyCo Ive asked the teacher and she said she’s just fine