hello, I've read threads about this topic before, but i desperately need some new insights.
My 6,5 year old dd is i think extremely immature - in a very specific way. she needs to play being very very young - 2 or 3 - a lot. This comprises talking in a baby voice and generally behaving in a silly way. And her play is generally at the same level as her 4 year old sister's - ie she will always go down to her sister's level rather than making her sister come up to hers. This is the same even with her sister's friends. I find the extent of her need slightly worrying and I'm also concerned that she is only mixing at school with the rather immature, babyish kind of girls.
Clearly she has a need to relieve stress or to behave in a babyish way, but can I teach her to pick her moments, or help her outgrow this need, or do I need to swallow my discomfort and just love and accept that this is where she's at? I've had several incidents recently where I've picked her up from a friend's house and the mother has said - oh, xxx (my dd) only wanted to play babies and my daughter doesn't really do this any more. And I've notied that the more sophisticated, dynamic girls have stopped inviting her over.
The background is that we have had an unsettled few years, moving about a lot. Also post my dd2 I had postpartum psychosis and severe pnd, and I couldn't cope with my dd1s need to be babied when I had a new baby. I think I was overly harsh with her and that this has probably not helped her, but I really think she is "stuck" in this age, emotionally, and I want her to move on, not least because she's a very clever, imaginative girl who is selling herself short on the friends front, but also because little girls are very cruel to each other and obviously I want her to be a winner.
wow that was long. Sorry. Any ideas?