Five year old dd with tempter tantrums

[Leytonmum]

My five year old dd1 has always been very sociable and very loving towards me and my DH. She went through the usual toddler tantrums when she was 2/3 (especially as that coincided with the arrival of DD2) but since then has been pretty well behaved. She has recently finished her Reception year at school and since breaking up for the holidays has been having regular temper tantrums. What really upsets me is how angry she gets. She shouts and screams and sometimes kicks and throws things. I put in her room to calm her down and she rips pictures from the walls and slams the door several times. She shouts things like, 'Nobody understands me!' I wasn't expecting this sort of behaviour till she was a teenager. Is this normal behaviour for a five year old girl? I think it may be because she's finding it hard to be at home with her sister all the time than be at school with her friends. But I don't really know how to tackle the behaviour. I've been putting in 'time out' in her room. Any suggestions welcome!

Whether it's 'normal' or not, it's certainly not acceptable, is it? :) By the end of term I've noticed that children can get very tetchy and tired. Holiday times bedtimes tend to slip a bit later because noone has to be up for school in the morning. Plus they burn off a lot of energy at school running about and stimulated all the time doing lessons... something they don't do at home.

I would send her out into the garden with a football or bicycle to work out her aggression rather than putting her in a room where there's nothing to do. Organise some play-dates with other children if you're in a position to do that. Bring bed-time forward so that she's getting plenty of sleep and make sure she's eating good foods as that can affect behaviour. Good luck

I think it's "normal" in that it's part of them becoming more assertive and having stronger emotions.

See if you can help her to work thru her feelings better in general, I suspect that would help a lot in terms of things not overwhelming her so badly. We are trying that tactic with 6yo DS, who also has mighty tantrums.

Try to avoid confrontations; get her to help round the house (offer a reward if she does well). Have "times" dressed up, her being bsby or daddy ; let her choose, her reading to you etc.Reinforce the good.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I haven't had a chance to log in before now to see them. We do lots of nice things like having friends round or playing games together so I don't think I can do any more of that. But I think I will try putting her in the garden next time although I do worry what on earth the neighbours will think if they hear her screaming and throwing things. I think it could be tiredness as well so I'm trying to keep an eye on bedtime. 'Ragged' - in terms of working through her feelings, what do you mean? I asked her how it feels when she gets angry and she says it's not a very nice feeling in her tummy so I suggested that if she starts to feel like that, she tells Mummy before she starts throwing things and I can give her a cuddle or she can have some quiet time.