Anyone else's DDC still really tired after starting Year 7??

[CocktailQueen]

We had a complete break during half term - dd slept, did no work, really relaxed.

DH has been driving dd to school several days a week so she can wake later and doesn't have to get the bus.

We are doing all we can to help her - she's not doing any chores around the home.

She's still quite negative about school and saying she's tired all the time. She's so grumpy! She says there are no friendship issues, she enjoys school but it's too hard/there's too much to remember. Not sure if hormones are playing a part, and missing her best friend, who's gone to a different school.

Should she have settled in by the time of the term? She only does one extra-curricular activity per week, and is getting to bed at a reasonable time.

She doesn't seem to have loads of homework. She's so negative and argumentative and and wearing to be around - anyone else? Pls tell me it's not just us!

My DS was like this last year. I ended up taking him to the gp, where it was discovered he was slightly low in iron and significantly low in vitamin D. On top of that, he is a sensitive, anxious chap ( he has been assessed for ASD twice, but both times, there wasn't enough evidence to confirm or to rule it out, who needs time to decompress and process the day's events, after coping all day in a busy school environment. He improved after a well teen multi vitamin and his levels came back to normal, but even in Year 8, he still feels tired and needs to spend a lot of time by himself.

In a nutshell, it's not unusual, but it might be worth taking her to the gp, to see if there's a physical cause, and it could just be her personality.

That's v interesting, CremeEgg, as dd shares any of your ds's characteristics. DD also needs quiet time when she's home to decompress.

I was wondering about a trip to the GP. And I will get a good multivitamin!

She can be anxious and a 'glass half empty' person.

I honestly think it's a mixture of personality and upheaval. Try the Wellteen supplement. X

Simple answer is no. Not that unusual but doesn't sound quite right. So I would go to the gp.

(In our case: DS' start to Y7 has been non-stop, they have long days 8.55-4 with a long lunch when they do clubs or sport. He doesn't do that much outside during the week, but with school has had football training and matches, cricket training 3x a week, at weekends some cycling and rugby and more cricket, and a guitar lesson. Oh and lots of homework, average 2 hours a night and a couple of hours at the weekend. I'd say he gets to sleep quicker than previously (at about 9/9.30) but is up and raring at 7.15 and leaves for the bus at 7.45.)

I have a y7 dd who has had some trouble adjusting for similar reasons. She doesn't say she's tired but her behaviour indicates that she is... I spoke to the school after she had a some very iffy moments (teenage style drama incidents with "friends", a detention issue that spiralled out of control, an incident where the school bus left without her) and they say that a lot of them are having problems adjusting, it's perfectly normal and she's coping well given the amount of change she's dealing with.

Great idea re the teen supplement I'll try that.

I think the beginning of Y7 is a huge adjustment. My DD does 8am to 12.50 pm at school with no real break and then comes home for lunch from 1 to 1.50 pm. Afternoons can be three, two or one hour long but she has ECs on the short afternoons. Wednesday afternoon is free from class but gets eaten up with big bits of homework.

I keep suggesting to DD that she might like to have the occasional lunch at the canteen or at a restaurant with her grandfather/father or something but actually, decompressing at lunch time does her a world of good and means that homework gets done very quickly after school as she is not too wound up.

Thanks, Waiting, and everyone else. OK, will chat to her again this eve, get multivits, make an appt with GP if she hasn't improved by next week. V helpful - thank you all

Simple answer from me is yes!!

All children's tiredness and hormonal changes vary and cope with the adjustment to senior school differently, irrespective of how much extra stuff they do or don't do. Mentally they are still under pressure to remember everything on top of daily homework x 2/3 subjects that most did not get at junior.

Also, time change/daylight hours takes some getting used to. Physiologically the darker nights has an effect on some.

Mine keeps it together as much as she can during the day (long, 7am till 7, one x day leaves at 5.45am) and therefore does have more melt downs now than when she was 2. But allegedly at school she's holding her own on the multi tasking. Can't put a pair of socks in the laundry at home...

Good idea to get a check up if worried but by next term things should be on the up (hopefully)!

ealingwest - 5.45 am start for an 11 year old?!

Hazards of being a swimmer BoboChic. Supposed to do 3 earlies, drawn a line on one.

Oh OK. Very time consuming is swimming! There was a girl in my class at prep school who went on to be an Olympic swimmer and she was always arriving with wet hair.

It is! like most things children do, it'll reach it's natural conclusion at some point when things get too tough. Olympic swimmer she ain't , but I am not going to be the one that culls (unless homework/health suffers). She needs to make the call so not blame me when she's older that she could have been this or that...

Yep - mine's exhausted. Nothing wrong with school-she's enjoying it and making new friends just fine.

But, a good 1 1/2 to 2 hrs of homework a night (being dyslexic means things just take longer). And she does a fair bit of extra stuff which we are cutting down on as she needs a break.

Its just so much extra work, new subjects, new friends, new teachers etc that it's tiring. She doesn't tend to get stroppy, but instead gets a bit clingy and over sensitive.

I hope next term is easier.

my DD exhausted too, though did have a 2 week half term which she needed.
i put it down to all the extra sport, she is doing about 4-6 hours a week, at primary it was a good week where they did 1 hour + an outside school swimming lesson.
berocca is good. protein for breakfast (it is an hour longer to wait for lunch and leaves the house an hour earlier than primary)