Anxiety? Spirited? Emotional?

by Kim
(Maryland)

My daughter is 8 and in 2nd grade. (we gave her an extra year to mature due to a later birthday) She has always been a spirited child. Full of animation, to the extreme. When she is happy she can be bouncing off the walls - When she is mad she kicks, screams, and slams doors. All emotions she feels are extreme. Therefore when she has a fear it is extreme.


For example: She is afraid she will die giving birth to a child, (in the future) because Padmea in Star Wars did. When she is thinking about it she is obsessed with it and will cry about it. Can not get it out of her head. So is she an anxious child??? At home she is full of confidence and talks alot. She tries to dominate the conversations.



At school she is a completely different child. She is shy and reserved, rarely participating. When doing homework if she has to put the slightest effort into the answer she throws herself down saying she can not do it, she does not know the answer. At an amusement park she loves thrill rides - however we have to practically drag her kicking and screaming to get onto the ride the first time (we know she will like it) because she is afraid of what might happen - after she rides it she wants to ride it over and over and is extreme in her excitement to ride it again. This happens on every thrill ride.

She can be very difficult when we do homework because it will take up to 2 hours to do 30 min of work, I refuse to give answers without her trying.

She can be very difficult when correcting a behavior because she gets soooooo mad. This does not stop me. Which some say it is a manipulative tactic I do not think it is.

She is difficult when dealing with her fears. because they mostly have to do with the future.

Again everything it to the extreme over the top emotional outbursts.

We just started giving her small dose of melatonin to help her relax enough to fall asleep. That seems to be a time of anxiety where she thinks about all the scary stuff. It has made a big difference in getting her to sleep.

Did I mention we are now dealing with her lying to her friends. She is having trouble now maintaining friendships.

Anyone have thoughts or ideas.


Hi Kim

It definitely sounds like at times she is exhibiting some anxiety about the future. In fact rarely do you experience anxiety about present events.

I think it is important to have your child evaluated for therapy if you are having this kind of trouble at school and with her school work. Make sure it is someone who has experience with young children and with children who have extreme depth of emotion.

I would also get her a full psychological evaluation to determine if there are any learning disabilities that are causing her to feel less confident at school and about school work,


Good Luck

Kristen