Question
My daughter, age 5 1/2 recently started acting irrational. She refuses to get in the car and will unbuckle herself and jump out. This behavior started a week ago when she refused to sleep in her own bed and would wake up in the middle of the night and throw a tantrum when told she can’t sleep in our bed. She screams that she’s scared of her room and the car. We have never been in an accident, so her fears are irrational. She has lost privileges and has been confined to her room for several days, but this behavior continues. She hasn’t played with friends and was not allowed to go to a birthday party she was really excited about. She is well behaved at school and her teacher has spoken privately with her, and she just says she’s scared of the dark. She is usually independent, but she has been really clingy, especially with her dad. He was out of town a week before the troubles started but is back and spends a lot of time with her.
