DD (nearly 5) seems to thrive on being miserable......

[TheHollyandMcDreamy]

.....and it's driving me mad!

Generally she's a lovely little girl but if there's something to be miserable about she laps it up!

Would you ignore it, point out the positive side, it really annoys me and saddens me as she's not really got alot to be sad about (as far as I can see)

I think her motto in life is why have a small crisis when you can have a full blown drama!!!

Ds (4.5) does this too and it has got worse since her started school. I think he does it because he likes the attention. We have started to say to him that we will not react to a huge drama but if he comes up to us and says I'm hurt/upset, can I have a hug, he is always welcome to one (quite hard to implement sometimes as his timing is awful - ie dinner coming out of oven - can I have a hug)

Goosey, sympathise with your oven anecdote. It is precisely when it is least convenient that our dcs 'need' us the most. For my dd 4.3, it is when her younger brother kicks off, when I am cooking, when I am driving, when dh and I are having our dinner, when I happen to commit the cardinal sin of talking to my dh after he gets in from work ...

Thank goodness it's not just my daughter then. Maybe I can put this emtional stuff down to en dof term tiredness. It's all a bit calmer in the house now!

i think and i dont want to sound know it all here just ive been here before lol .....being 5 is kind of like a crisis point they are still our babies yet encouraged to be independent in school and they go from being either one of a small group from pre school or alone if theyve been at home to being one in a huge number of people and this must affect their coping strategies and at 5 the only way to relieve your misery is to be miserable i think and hope its just a phase ...........blooming long phase tho ds is 14 and still the same lololol