My (just) 7 year old daughter seems to have flipped personality overnight. She is usually a delightful, well behaved little girl - and gets glowing reports to this effect from school. She hasn’t necessarily been my most emotionally straightforward child / perhaps slightly more sensitive/quirky (I have 3 - she is the eldest), but nothing unusual or that I’m not able to deal with.
Yesterday, she was due to go to a friends house for a play date. She wanted to take a piece of my jewellery with her, to which I said no - and suggested other alternatives. Her behaviour escalated incredibly - hitting me / throwing things / screaming unrelentingly. I sat with her in her room and waited for her to calm down - the natural consequence was that she didn’t attend the play date. Things seemed to pass.
All fine this morning - then again totally out of the blue - in the supermarket with her Dad and siblings. She wanted to hold an item, and so did her sister. Both carried them to the till - following a conversation about how we could only keep one of them - she started hitting out at her sister (they get on brilliantly usually), so my husband asked her to put hers aside. She again flew into a screaming rage / threw the item on the floor and made a huge scene.
I’m really worried as this has come out of nowhere (or perhaps it hasn’t, but trying to identify a source). It doesn’t seem at all normal to me for a 7 year old, and I need a bit of direction. Should I be seeking help? Or shall I try and implement some firm consequences as I usually would for behaviour, and see if it passes? If anyone could give me some ideas for consequences, as I feel like unless there’s an obvious natural consequence I don’t know what will impact best.
Any advice gratefully received.