Question
I would love it if Sarah Hamaker has time to answer this one since she gave me such a fabulous answer for my daughter's pooping-in-pants issue (almost instant cure, thanks). My daughter has just turned 5 and is suddenly acting as if she's a hormonal teenager. They did tests at her well-child check, and her iron and thyroid are fine, etc. She seems frustrated almost constantly. She's having another wave of hitting, kicking, hissing and glaring when she doesn't want to do something. Or sometimes it just seems to come from nowhere; she was sweeping with a broom at preschool and suddenly screamed at and slapped at two friends who were innocently passing by her. This morning, she simply refused to put her clothes on. I told her if I had to dress her, there would be consequences of not getting her Tuesday treat (a donut). She did not "beat her timer," so I came to calmly dress her. She hissed at me and kicked me twice. I took her firmly by the ear and asked her to stop. She did, and I helped her get her clothes on. At that point, she became her happy self again, but it was almost an hour of acting up and acting ugly to get to that point. Taking someone by the ear occasionally is not a problem, but I feel like if it's happening daily, this may not be the best method for her. I don't understand why she's become so physically belligerent on a daily basis; no changes or unhappiness at home. I need to know a good way to handle the hitting and kicking because clearly, she can't be allowed to get away with it. And I need to know if I should ignore the dramatic hissing and glaring and teeth baring, or should that be handled in the same way as the hitting? She has eyes like mine, and a good glare from her can feel like a body blow, especially to small friends at school.
