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Tantrums before bed! 10 yr old girl! HELP!

My little sister has absolutely horrible tantrums before bed; she runs around screaming picking up all her "stuff", which is mostly useless stuff she never pays attention to during the day. Later, once my mother has gotten her up to her bedroom, she screams and refuses allow my mother to say goodnight to her, or even enter the room! My mother, of course, doesn't like that and enters the, blockaded, room. A huge tantrum ensues that involves a LOT of screaming, flailing about, running (as if scared) from my parents, and not listening to anyone. When ANYONE (and I am her favorite sister and have tried many times) tries to calm her down she pushes them away and screams more!

The only times I have seen such craziness is in abused children, and I know that there was no abuse to her, so that isn't the issue. I have tried to figure out what the problem is, but haven't come up with anything. She has always had issues at night, always had to 'pick up all her things' and take them to bed. When she was 6 she would bring 3 bags of toys to bed, in a half-asleep state.

To punish her, my parents have tried spanking, yelling back, time-outs, and making her sleep on the floor in my parents room (which gets her to shut up but doesn't FIX the behavioral problems.) They also use the latter as a punishment for any day-time misbehavior. This punishment was my dad's idea and in my opinion is not working.

Any ideas on what might be going on? During the day she is very well behaved, when treated like a 'big girl'. She has issues with her brother (she hates him for no apparent reason), he's a fine kid, 13 years old, normal, doesn't hate her.

Help?
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592969 tn?1248325405
It could be that she is scared to sleep at night time.  Some children are very afraid at night and I would have to admit that I was one of them.  I was actually scared until my early twenties (embarrassing, but true).  The yelling and spanking must stop.  A 10-year-old can be reasoned with and understands.  There is no need for spanking especially when children can understand. This only adds fuel to the fire.  Bedtime needs to be calm and quiet.  Does your sister have her own room?  If so, maybe it would help if she shared a room (at least this could help keep peace in the house).  She gathers toys up for comfort.  She needs comfort because she is getting stressed out leading up to bedtime.  Ask your parents to work on finding out from your sister what the problem is and finding a solution.  Sit down and have a family meeting about it.  Forget the punishments and work on a solution.  
Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
  Yes I think you should ask your Mom to have some family counselling for all of you,the dynamics in the house are troubling and I think your sister is unhappy and upset, there seems to be many problems and it woiuld be good if they were to seek some help .
Helpful - 0
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