my dd 6.5 is going through a difficult patch at the moment. We've moved house a lot over the last few years, and we've just moved house AGAIN and she hates her new school and is not settling well. She's clearly very anxious and wound up - she's weeing loads and not sleeping well - but she's also increasingly difficult to handle, especially round the witching hour time of bath/bedtime. It's like she really is out of herself and out of control, she is rude, hysterical, or laughs mirthlessly, throws things, kicks, and is pretty hard to deal with. I also have another dd who is nearly 4 who is watching all this with hawk eyes, and has copied some of the behaviours. I would be really interested in hearing how parents who have had similar experiences have dealt with this. It's a really terrible time of day, and I'm not really on the ball with it. I can see that she is totally not in control of herself, but it is very difficult to bring her back to herself before bedtime. Incidentally, we have always had a really good bath and bedtime routine. You know, relaxing after tea, then lavender bath, then stories, cuddles and songs.