What to do!!!
My husband and I have my 5yo SD and my 5yo son full time (they are 8 months apart)...Ok so the deal is my 5yo son acts like a typical 5yo boy... but my sd doesn't act like a 5yo she has seen WAY to much and is very much into looking at boys and ie:the kids were watching little rascals and she was like he needs to take his underwear off (on the part where spanky/alfafa run outside in their underwear)... and my son was like GROSS! What can I do to make this kid act like a CHILD! I mean she potty trained HERSELF at almost 2yo bc her mom j/didn't care, she is just so grown she cannot play by herself. My husband walked into her room the other day and she was SURROUNDED by all her barbies and toys and she was like I'm bored... She acts like she is 25yo its ridiculous. She tries to talk to me like I'm stupid and now its like I dont even know how to raise this child! And her dad is just NOW starting to see it. I know part of her problem is she went from living with her to mom, to living w/her gma, to living w/us and now finding out that her mom is in jail - what do I do how do I raise this child to ACT like a child!! :?
Um, sounds like me when I was
Um, sounds like me when I was a kid, (less the inappropriate commments and disrespect.)
Her boredom might come from her disinterest in the things she has--try giving her books instead of dolls. Speak to her and communicate with her firmly and let her know that speaking down to people is not acceptable, that she won't have friends if she keeps doing this. Have more emotional conversations with her since she sounds like she can take them, and if not, scale it back until she can.
She might enjoy different mentally stimulating things (puzzles, art sets, books, educational movies such as documentaries) since she had to grow out of the child phase so fast. You can't reverse aging, unfortunately. It's very scary to find a child acting older than they are, and sad in some ways too.
Just my two cents on this.
We have tried the books - my
We have tried the books - my son LOVES books and I buy all kinds I love to read to them, and they both love for me to read... but she cannot have books by herself its like when she is by herself with coloring books she colors on the walls or whatever else there is to color and books she will tear out the pages... I finally had to start putting books on my kindle for the kids because we just couldn't have a bunch or she would tear them up. This may sound crazy - but its like when she isn't "thinking about it" she acts like a 5yo but when she is which seems like a majority of the time... she wants to act grown and will tell you she is grown. Its so hard I feel helpless and I'm not even sure how to go about disciplining her for things she says... because she got away with so much at her mothers/grandmothers... but we have had her for 7months and it doesn't really seem like much progression... Thank you all for y'alls comments! They are making me look at other alternatives
If her mom was that
If her mom was that neglectful, I'm guessing she didn't have many toys to play with. This is not good and can lead to developmental delays. She should have puzzles, building blocks, legos, picture books, stackable/nesting containers, foam letters for the bath, art materials, etc. She needs to be played with. A lot. This will engage her brain in new ways and will focus on things that will increase her brain activity and avoid the harmful ideas that have been placed in her brain. These kids are not easy...I've dealt with one. But if she is consistently worked with and reminded how she should behave, played with and engaged in a positive way, her new memories and activities will help mask the negative ones. Good luck!
Oh, and about the barbies...use them for role playing. Teaching appropriate behavior with barbies is GENIUS.
We have a lot of educational
We have a lot of educational matching games,board games, blocks, arts and crafts, ect. She is going to church now with us and playing with the children down there I work in the nursery area at our church so its nice that I get to supervise how her interactions are with other kids... She is delayed on somethings but goes to school and they're not worried about it (thank goodness because I sure was....) I mean we pretty much get her everything she wants maybe not right then but for rewards, and what not. And at her moms she had a lot of toys she just wanted to constantly be in her moms lap or get all of her moms attention because her mom gave her none. Its such a sad situation...and I know I have to handle her differently from my son because of the situation she was raised in... but its so hard ot remind my self of that.... Thanks though for your help and I know I need to interact more with her (and my son) we just have such busy schedules which should NEVER be an excuse... but ya know...