I have a sweetheart of a 7 year old daughter. She does excellent in school, has lots of friends and is in general a really lovable, well-adjusted kid. The problem is that her communication with me and my husband is at a 2 year old's level. SHe doesn't say anything to us without whining, yelling, crying, throwing herself on the floor. She also gets very rude and mouthy. We have been trying to make sure we are listening to her and we encourage her to use words to tell us what she needs/thinks/wants. She also is very bossy and sarcastic with her 2 younger siblings. We send her to the "naughty spot" when she misbehaves which usually becomes a battle in itself. We've taken away toys, taken away desserts, and taken away fun activities in order to show her that there are consequences for her behavior. Most of it she could care less about. We have a hard time figuring out what her "currency" is (to quote Dr. Phil). We've also tried an award system. In her defense, my husband and I are not always the most consistent parents in the world, but we are making a conscious effort to change that. Now she keeps telling us that she is bad (we never tell her that) and that we don't love her ( we tell her several times a day how much we love her). I don't know if she really feels that or if it's some kind of manipulation to get what she wants.
Anyway, we think we see a correlation between her behavior and sugar intake. Does anyone have any experience with this or have any advice on how to get through to her or what to try to help her control her mouth and behavior? We love her and we know she's a great kid, but how do you teach a 7 year old that if she would just control her mouth, she would be happier and so would we?
