My four year old, can you advise please?

[Yorkiegirl]

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if your worried you should contact the school and ask to sit in - see what they say

Pre-school does seem like the best option here. I think she is just readjusting to spending all this time where she is no longer No.1. Does dd2 have a daytime nap? Could you not spend a bit of time with dd1 then? Or could you take her to the park after pre-school, let her run off a bit of energy? When my dd comes back from school she has half an hour where she's just hyper and can be very naughty.

I agree with the sit-in just to make sure that there is no problem with the pre-school.

Hope it resolves itself soon!

Bink I think it must be an attention thing as she was similar at nursery, I am a single working parent so she gets my attention at the weekend tho not all the time and she seems to always want an adults attention at school, I have tried having her friends round, she goes to a drama group on a Sat. I think it is with the people she knows really well, eg my mum, the school teacher and the after school playleader so fingers crossed. She has also recently said"why should I do as you say" to a dinner lady ! blush

I personally found that my ds's got like this when they were 'ready' for school but not quite old enough- made for a bad few months. I think it's a combination of a new maturity / tiredness / readyness to move on etc and I wouldn't t ake it to heart too much.

I would sit her down and say that Mummy is suprised how much she has grown up lately and how soon it will be when she goes to school. tell her some of the good things about being grown up but then explain that it also menas she has to be kinder to smaller children and behave more nicely. Also give her wind down activities she can do without her sis: age appropriate crafts, a reading corner in her bedrrom (cushions, rug, shelf) or a leap pad type toy. Now's the time to teach her how to spot when it all gets too much and she needs time out.

I was reading 'The Social Toddler' last night and there was a bit about starting pre-school. It said if they cry when you pick them up it might just be relief at seeing you again, after having to deal with lots of others for a period of time. Maybe dd1 is mean to dd2 because it's a way of asserting herself, feeling some kind of power/control over things?

I like PeachyClair's advice on how to handle the situation