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Pure anger towards child

16 replies

angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 19:27

my D is nearly 6, when she’s asleep she looks like an angel, when she was a baby she was an angel, now i genuinely think ive give birth to the spawn of Satan. I’ve genuinely never met a child who has the attitude that my daughter has, the attitude is genuinely so awful I dread the weekends, I dread getting up in the morning, I dread breathing because everything and anything sets her off. She kicks off, screams, stamps her feet, hits, throws things wherever you tell her no, or she has to have her hair done, or she has to go school, or she has to do her work at school, for some people she’s good as gold, but for me I’m ready to rip out my own reproductive system just so I never have to do this again. Part of me wishes I wasn’t a a mum, but at the same time she is my baby and I don’t want anything bad to happen to her, I just wish something bad would happen to me so I don’t have to do this anymore

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TeenToTwenties · 31/01/2026 19:36

That sounds really hard.

At a calm time can she say to you or another adult why she explodes with you?

There is a book i see recommended a lot called 'The explosive child' which sounds like it might be relevant.

There is also something called 'low demand parenting' which might be worth googling.

Neurodiverse children can sometimes mask everywhere else and then unleash in their safe space of home.

School may be able to refer you somewhere if you talk with them, (could you covertly film?)

angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 19:41

TeenToTwenties · 31/01/2026 19:36

That sounds really hard.

At a calm time can she say to you or another adult why she explodes with you?

There is a book i see recommended a lot called 'The explosive child' which sounds like it might be relevant.

There is also something called 'low demand parenting' which might be worth googling.

Neurodiverse children can sometimes mask everywhere else and then unleash in their safe space of home.

School may be able to refer you somewhere if you talk with them, (could you covertly film?)

She’s never been picked up from nursery or school as having adhd autism etc the only thing is delayed speech and she’s a lot better now. But she doesn’t use her words when she’s upset she just makes noises at me and stuff. But she’s the same everywhere apparently in school, at home, not at dance school tbf, but I just can’t have a nice time with her everything is a battle everything is the end of the world that I’m the worst parent, she has everything and I wish I could just take it all back

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Crystalovertherainbow · 31/01/2026 19:43

she is PDA ?? this is not the usual autism

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 19:44

Crystalovertherainbow · 31/01/2026 19:43

she is PDA ?? this is not the usual autism

nothings ever been picked up, by anyone, school, nursery, dr, health visitor, they just think it’s because she’s delayed speech

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User69611 · 31/01/2026 19:44

TeenToTwenties · 31/01/2026 19:36

That sounds really hard.

At a calm time can she say to you or another adult why she explodes with you?

There is a book i see recommended a lot called 'The explosive child' which sounds like it might be relevant.

There is also something called 'low demand parenting' which might be worth googling.

Neurodiverse children can sometimes mask everywhere else and then unleash in their safe space of home.

School may be able to refer you somewhere if you talk with them, (could you covertly film?)

Completely agree with this post. Could be autistic girl masking and unleashing at home. Low demand parenting and explosive child are great resources. But sounds like you need some support too as things are at breaking point. Do you have a partner / coparent?

User69611 · 31/01/2026 19:46

angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 19:44

nothings ever been picked up, by anyone, school, nursery, dr, health visitor, they just think it’s because she’s delayed speech

PDA autistic kids often just show it at home, they mask everywhere else (initially at least), so just as others haven’t picked it up doesn’t mean it isn’t a possibility. Parents have to fight for it as school/nursery don’t see any issues.

angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 19:48

User69611 · 31/01/2026 19:46

PDA autistic kids often just show it at home, they mask everywhere else (initially at least), so just as others haven’t picked it up doesn’t mean it isn’t a possibility. Parents have to fight for it as school/nursery don’t see any issues.

Tbh I would never have said this was autism, I’ve met so many on the spectrum and I have family on it and whilst I understand it’s a spectrum it’s different for everyone, her behaviours only got worse in the last year or so. So idk if it is autism or if she hates me and would rather live with her super dad who does fuck all but she seems to love him and thinks the sun shines out his arse

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TeenToTwenties · 31/01/2026 19:53

When did Dad move out?
With delayed speech is she just angry with you for pushing her Dad away (in her thinking) and poor speech means she shows things physically?

Sounds very tough.

(Neuorodiversity comes in many different forms and can be harder to spot in girls.)

angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 19:54

TeenToTwenties · 31/01/2026 19:53

When did Dad move out?
With delayed speech is she just angry with you for pushing her Dad away (in her thinking) and poor speech means she shows things physically?

Sounds very tough.

(Neuorodiversity comes in many different forms and can be harder to spot in girls.)

When she was 18 months old, idk she was just a bit slower in picking things up but she’s a lot better now she can speak in sentences etc now she’s in speech therapy

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Theonlywayicanloveyou · 31/01/2026 19:56

I promise you it gets easier. I currently have a 5 year old who is being a total nightmare. In fact she’s still watching tv with the 8yo now becuse I can’t face doing her bath.

The 8yo was the same at this stage. She’s totally grown out of it.

you do need to be firm and keep going with boundaries, but it does end.

get lots of breaks where you can, and as much sleep as possible - both are essential to survive!

sunflowerdaisies · 31/01/2026 19:58

No one thought my daughter was autistic at that age but she could really lose her temper and was very hard parent at times at home. School didn’t see it until year 5 (though anxiety at school started in year 3). People don’t realise she’s autistic now until they get to know her well and she has quite a few similar friends. I’d look at parenting techniques for autistic girls as, whether she is or not, those techniques will help.

I can empathise with your feelings, some days are very hard.

angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 19:59

Theonlywayicanloveyou · 31/01/2026 19:56

I promise you it gets easier. I currently have a 5 year old who is being a total nightmare. In fact she’s still watching tv with the 8yo now becuse I can’t face doing her bath.

The 8yo was the same at this stage. She’s totally grown out of it.

you do need to be firm and keep going with boundaries, but it does end.

get lots of breaks where you can, and as much sleep as possible - both are essential to survive!

Honestly it just feels like it’s never ending, her dad has her 3 nights a month he does the bare minimum, I try not to speak to him because he angers me so bad

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angrymum97 · 31/01/2026 20:00

sunflowerdaisies · 31/01/2026 19:58

No one thought my daughter was autistic at that age but she could really lose her temper and was very hard parent at times at home. School didn’t see it until year 5 (though anxiety at school started in year 3). People don’t realise she’s autistic now until they get to know her well and she has quite a few similar friends. I’d look at parenting techniques for autistic girls as, whether she is or not, those techniques will help.

I can empathise with your feelings, some days are very hard.

I’m hoping if she has something then as she starts speaking better etc we can pick up on it but so far it just seems that she doesn’t like anything or being told no etc and doesn’t like me

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TeenToTwenties · 31/01/2026 20:04

There is/was a thing called 'Early Help Hub', you could Google that too, don't know if it would be relevant.

You and your DD need help from someone.
Via GP, or school or social services, I don't know which, but from somewhere.

Jeska7 · 31/01/2026 21:02

It sounds really tough, and you cannot carry on like this. It sounds as if you’re at breaking point and your DD isn’t exacting having a great time at home. Ask for some help from your GP, health visitor, school, local Family Hub etc.

BertieBotts · 31/01/2026 22:41

Schools don't usually pick up on autism/ADHD etc. IME. They never picked up on it with my DC, even after I have told them they have been diagnosed they look dubious/confused and say "Really? I never would have thought..." IDK why because DS2 in particular hits every single stereotype you could imagine including that ADHD medication calmed him right down, and DS1's teacher turned out to have rated him far worse on the questionnaire than we had on the parent one.

Children with ADHD have specific behaviours which are almost perfectly honed to get on an adults' last nerve. There is actually research showing that parents are more reactive towards the ADHD behaviours. That is not to blame the child or parent, it is helpful because it makes the picture clear - what commonly happens is that what's called a coercive cycle forms.

The coercive cycle goes like this:

Parent asks child to do/stop doing something (a reasonable request)
Child refuses/ignores
Parent repeats request, possibly escalating to warning/threat
Child refuses/escalates to challenging behaviour (tantrums, shouting, "attitude", etc)

There may be further cycles of the parent getting more angry and the child getting more defiant, but the outcome is that things keep escalating until either the parent gives up and drops the request or the parent succeeds in scaring the child into compliance, which could involve an action they feel guilty about such as shouting, name calling, physical violence, damaging property or giving too extreme of a punishment.

Over time the pattern becomes more entrenched, so you both more quickly escalate. This pattern is unintentionally extremely reinforcing for both parties, because the preferred outcome for each (avoidance or compliance) happens some of the time and this gives you the slot machine effect which is even more reinforcing than an outcome which happens consistently. So once the cycle has started it is highly likely to continue unless something interrupts it.

Reinforcing does not mean either of you enjoy it. Most parents stuck in this pattern hate it and wish it didn't have to happen that way but it always seems to anyway, and they don't know what else to do aside from stop making requests of the child, which is not usually possible or they are already partially doing anyway.

If it gets very bad you can also enter a state of Blocked Care which is where you start to lose empathy for the child, dread interaction with them and see all the behaviour as an attack or a sign the child is out to get you/inherently bad. I don't know if you are already here but you did describe DD as the spawn of Satan, I realise that could be tongue in cheek. FWIW the "tips" on the leaflet are good but they come across as this simple easy thing you can do whereas they are actually much more in depth than the one sentence on a leaflet suggests. The important things are improving your own support network, seeking professional support and looking to interrupt a coercive cycle if this is happening.

In terms of interrupting the cycle there are parenting things you can do - the PACE approach mentioned in the Blocked Care leaflet is one (it is a specific thing you can also look up), what also helped me is approaches which understand dysregulation and what it is and what to do (Big Baffling Behaviours, Mona Delahooke, Conscious Discipline) or you can replace the escalation with a very boring, generic consequence which is so small you can repeat it all day and never run out, while focusing on encouraging/developing positive opposite behaviours (123 Magic, Triple P Parenting, Who's In Charge, Incredible Years). De-escalation and reducing in-the-moment demands (Low demand/PDA approaches, The Explosive Child, NVR) are also helpful to interrupt a coercive cycle.

IME you can use several of these things together. The main thing is that you reframe her behaviour from being an uncontrollable, unbearable emergency, to being something where you understand what is happening and how to handle the situation. Having a set guide of what to do instead of escalating can be huge because if you don't have anything to do you will likely default back to that automatic response.

Delayed speech development is a huge red flag for other issues particularly in the area of social-emotional development. It's frustrating you haven't received support and input with this. I know our system is completely overloaded and that's not your fault. Having family members on the autistic spectrum also means that it's more likely than average your DD could be autistic or have ADHD, even if she doesn't present anything like your family members. They think that there are multiple genes involved in autism and of course these genes pass down in families. It's only when someone has a certain amount of the genes that they express as autism so it's possible to have quite a few of the "autistic" genes and not be autistic. Family members of those on the autistic spectrum also have more autistic traits than average although again may not be autistic themselves.

< she doesn’t use her words when she’s upset she just makes noises at me and stuff > - this to me is a huge sign that she is not really "upset" but actually dysregulated in these moments meaning she's actually struggling to access the brain regions which will help her with calm and rational responses. Talking to her in those moments is about as much use as talking to a wild, snarling injured animal, it's all about body language and using the environment to convey safety. DS2 is very much this way and even so with language. He loses the ability to hold a conversation when he is dysregulated, he'll either make nonsense sounds or put on a silly voice and if he does talk, silly voice or not he's not responding to what you said or he will respond to everything with the same repeated phrase which doesn't necessarily make sense. He is diagnosed ADHD and we think he is likely to be autistic as well but the assessment he had so far was inconclusive.

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