If your usually lovely 7yr old started being really horrible at home would you wonder whether she was truly happy at school ?

[scatterbrain]

My dd is 7 - and in Yr 2 - beautifully behaved at school - and doing pretty well. But over the last month or so has become increasingly aggressive and stroppy - arguing with absolutely everything we say to her, ranting on about her friends, complaining about everything, refusing to get dressed in the morning, crying on the way to school etc.

Then as soon as we get there she perks up and runs in !

She is a sensitive child - I think - and gets easily upset if people won't play with her, or go somewhere she's not going etc -

I'm not sure that it is the right school for her really - it's quite competitive and there are some quite bold characters - I just wonder whether I should go and look at another school to switch her for juniors ?

What would you do ?

I wasn't suggesting scatterbrain shouldn't be working! I was just brainstorming a heap of suggestions one of which might have been a bing light bulb moment, or maybe none of them, or in thinking "no, that wouldn't work because..." Scatterbrain might then have thought "ooh, but wait, we might try this thing instead" and then my suggestions would have had some value.

Please don't assume that I think WOHM is a bad idea. You don't even know whether or not I WOH myself!

i looked after a little girl who hated after school club,could you try and find a childminder or one of your dd friends mum to pick her up.i found the 8yr old i childminded after school never wanted to go so it would take an hour to take her home.good luck its horrible when your child is unhappy.my ds said he was happy at school,and after 7mth trying to get him into school he finally admitted he was being bullied by his so called friends.he is at a new school and very happy!!!!!

I know you can't find a childminder, and can't afford a Nanny, but I have solved this problem by using a teatime mother's help.

This is a mature lady ( a couple of years older than me) who does school pick-up for me two or three days a week, brings ds home, and does tea, or starts to get our evening meal underway if we can all eat together.

She generally works from 3:15 to about 5:30 - 6:00 p.m. and it means that ds can come home, do his homework, play with his own toys, sometimes have a friend round to tea, and I'm not stressed trying to get thru the traffic, cos she stays till we're home.

Admittedly finding her was awkward, I actually got her thru a local Nanny agency, but planned to try W.I. noticeboard or local church if the agency hadn't come thru'.

Maybe a grandparent from one of the kids at school might do the job. Obviously you need a CRB check (that's why the agency route is best), and references cos you are letting them into your home, and importantly you need to like and trust the person (but thats a requirement of a CM too.)

You need to invest time to find the person, buyt if you do, it's brilliant.

Sounds fabulous clumsymum but unfortunately I can't find one - I have been looking for over a year for just exactly that person - have advertised on gumtree, in parish magazine, school noticeboard and have tried three agencies - no-one seems to want to do it !

What I need is my mother or dh's mother to live a lot closer than they do !

There has to be someone doesn't there ? (whispers quietly - the other school has after school clubs till 6pm and one of them is just homework club - so no activity as such !)

haven't read all posts but I distinctly remember my dd (now 10yo) being a cow at age 7! My friend who has 4 daughters hit the nail on the head when she said that everyone goes on abouthe terrible two's but no bugger ever mentions the stroppy sevens. Made me feel a lot better about stuff. She really did grow out of it and now at 10 I am bracing myself for the next onslaught . At least I had around 2.5yrs grace