6 year old daughter confesses everything

[smith020208]

My wife and I have a 6 year old daughter and last week she began crying on the way to school and confessing to my wife everything under the sun, such as "the teacher told us to write our name then date but I wrote the date first, I was talking at lunch when I wasn't supposed to" and so on.  She never gets in trouble at school, during the resent parent teacher conference her good behavior was highlighted as a strength.  But everyday it is the same thing crying while going to school and confessing all night long.  We have tried explaining to her that it is good to tell us about things that she thinks is bad but she needs to let stuff go and not linger on small infractions that no one would have known about if she didn't confess.  I am in the military and currently deployed I am about half way through this 6 month rotation and believe that this could be a factor in her newly found guilt.  What should we do?  

[Tr1shl]

OMG...what horrible memories this brought back.  My daughter started at age 4.  Confessing EVERYTHING.  Like....I broke my pencil lead at school today on purpose.  Knowing she was confessing, I would ALWAYS say, oh thats ok.  Then she would say....twice.  Again, I would simply say thats ok.  She had to confess even though she always knew my response was thats ok.  She was diagnosed w/ OCD at 10 so it was 6 yrs of hell.  She would call me every single day at 3pm after school.  My close co workers and I called it the 3oclock confession.  Meds cured her completely and she got off them at 17 and has been fine ever since.   I feel your pain.  Good luck.  
There is definitely help out there.

[SB1995]

This is classic OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) beginning to manifest itself at an early age.  When I started going through this in puberty my parents were clueless - I never heard the word "OCD" till I was a lot older and then I realized what it was that I had been suffering from.  I wasted a lot of my teenage life in excessive worrying and confessing to my mother about ridiculous stuff.  My wife had it too.  Now my son started at age 4 to have the same issues.  I'm pretty sure it is genetic and runs in families.  We got him help straight away.  Get your child a psychiatrist as soon as possible.  There are medicines and counseling which can mitigate this problem and make it go away or at least reduce it to a manageable level.

[JRFRules]

Are you guys Jewish?

[jvano58]

I would agree. I was molested at 3 by a cousin and immediately my anxiety issues which later became full blown ocd started to happen. PTSD of sorts.  Tell her that no matter what happened do not be afraid to tell you exactly what it is and that you will never be upset with her.  Because if something did happen it is not her fault and you will take care of it. My anxiety issues started with my obsessing swallowing and I couldn't do it without water at age of 3.  Then I went into depression as early back as 5 years old.  I believe the assault only happened once; however, it puts profound guilt and this age on a child and they will carry forever unless they therapy.  It is the most difficult thing for a parent to come to grips with that their child may have been assaulted, and it makes YOU feel terrible.  But just imagine how this MAKES HER FEEL.  She cannot even understand it nor know that it was not her fault or that she did something wrong.  All positive energy and Peace and Healing to your daughter - my love to you all.

[Dove10]

PANDAS is short for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. The symptoms are usually dramatic, happen “overnight and out of the blue,” and can include obsessions, and/or compulsions. Children may also become moody or irritable, experience anxiety attacks, or show concerns about separating from parents or loved ones.

[Kelita5]

I'm not sure if this issue resolved or not but it sounds to me like your daughter might have PANDAS - pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (or called PANS now because they found associations with other infections too). Our son has it. Please research it. It is a neurological disorder that basically causes a hyperactive immune response which causes OCD. It can be treated! Please, please research it online. Good luck and God Bless!