lunatic 9yr old diva in the house......advice?

[ecayres]

Hi there,
I have a 9yr old girl (10 next week) who for the past 5 months has been causing the decibel levels in this house to reach epic proportions.
Ask her to do something and she'll either go 'Shirley Temple', stomp her feet, shout and act like I'm the nastiest person in the whole universe trying to ruin her entire life OR she'll screech and scream at me like some kind of lunatic banshee !

I've tried talking to her, tried explaining how her behaviour isn't warranted or acceptable, punished her and went the route of ignoring it all ....she's still going off on her mad ones ! This is occuring so many times a day it feels like its never ending and i'm thinking duct tape next .

She's driving me and her two siblings batty, they are both boys (13 and 4). I'm a single parent and thinking of running away from home so any advice will be greatly appreciated !

P.S Whoever said girls were easier bloody lied lol

I have a 9 year old DD too so the lunatic dimension really resonates. I find that my DD's moods are heavily dictated by her diet. For this reason we've almost entirely cut out processed foods....very hard! But it's effect has been monumental....now I know instantly if she's scoffed Haribo at school or her Nan has given her a packet of cheapo biscuits or something as her mood spirals.

I don't totally refuse her crappy food...on a Friday we have an evening of films and chocolate/crisps/popcorn....but in the week I'm pretty strict.

We eat only homemade food including bread...lots of veg and fruit for snacks as well as nuts.

Could you try that? It's hormones obviously but the effect of additives is terrible on kids...some more than others.

Thanks for the advice, I guess i'll be living in the kitchen more now than ever lol. I've already had to cut seriously back from processed and junk food lately as she's always 'raiding' and our dentist was seriously not impressed with her at the last check up.
Its good to know I'm not the only poor soul going through this though, it was either her or me being sectioned otherwise