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Behaviour/development

Is this normal for a 4 year old?

4 replies

EvaGraceMummy2015 · 21/02/2020 10:52

Hi ladies, forgive me if I'm coming across a bit stupid (but I've not had much experience with children prior to having my own) 🙈 but.. my four year old little girl just NEVER sits still!
A few examples; I ask her if she would like to watch a film whilst I get some housework done and she will sit and watch it for 5 mins max then lose interest, start wandering around the house getting toys out and get bored so then makes mess with anything she can find! (Think sudocrem/make up that sort of thing). At every opportunity she gets she will pour bubble bath etc all over the bathroom, constantly in the kitchen drawers and cupboards pulling everything out, anything she gets her hands on it's like she seems to destroy.. she has gone through a phase of destroying her toys (expensive things that she got for Christmas that she actually loves so I don't understand why?) I literally cannot take my eye off her for a minute because she's into things so quickly.. I have 1 year old twins to look after too so this is becoming quite challenging for me now.. is it normal for a 4 year old to fidget constantly too? Like literally be constantly playing with something/cannot sit still?
DD is at full time school now, I've spoken to her teachers about her behaviour and they seem to have no concerns, she is doing well, very bright etc but as you can imagine I am at my whits end now and feel like my whole house is just becoming a mess/everything is damaged 😞 I feel like I constantly have to take her out somewhere as I cannot cope with her in the house.. but obviously I don't have a money tree/should be able to stay in sometimes with my own children! This started from being a toddler but I just dismissed it as being creative/learning about the world etc but with DD being 5 in May I'm thinking surely she should be growing out of this behaviour by now? I'm genuinely confused as to whether this is normal children's behaviour or whether there is something underlying that needs to be addressed?
Sorry for the long post I'm literally just at my whits end on where to go from here 😞

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EvaGraceMummy2015 · 21/02/2020 19:44

Actually, I think you have a point there! Haha because she didn't like it at first but then after a while she would just go in and sit and play with her toys the whole time.. I will have to try that!

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SomeoneElseEntirelyNow · 21/02/2020 19:14

Have you tried a more "boring" time out, like the stairs or a corner of the kitchen? I can vividly remember being gleeful about being sent to my room- i got to play by myself without my little sister coming and annoying me!

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EvaGraceMummy2015 · 21/02/2020 16:02

Well she is at school 9-3 Monday to Friday and on weekends we take her out to run off her energy as much as possible, every time she destroys anything/deliberately makes a mess we send her to her bedroom for 5 minutes, then explain why she has had to go to her bedroom etc.. yes maybe I have been a little laid back at times because I have 1 year old twins to deal with as well (plus I feel that if I was to discipline her for doing something naughty every single time, she would spend the majority of her life in her bedroom).. this school holidays have been tough but I have made sure we got out every single day, only for her to come home and do the same again.

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SomeoneElseEntirelyNow · 21/02/2020 15:41

She's not going to grow out of it unless you teach her to. What form if discipline/consequences are you using? Is she getting enough exercise during the day to use up all her energy?

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