What causes this behavior

[spikeman3]

My 5-yr old granddaughter is very advanced for her age and has a large vocab.  From the time she was little she has been very strong willed.  She spends most of her time around adults due to lack of kids in her neighborhood and church setting.  She is home-schooled and has no siblings.  She particularly in the last year seems to have a lot of mood swings, emotional outbursts, and gets very upset if things do not work out the way she pervieves it should.  She has become very attached to things and has a hard time of letting go and trying to get her to go somewhere without her mother usually ends up in a very traumatic experience for everyone. She  lots of the time does  not seem to be a happy child, like she has a heavy weight on her. She eats very healthy and gets a lot of exercise, and has no known health problems.  She does take dance lessons and does well in that group, very precise about such things.

Is this normal behavior?  It is taking a toll on her mother.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Her parents might consider an evaluation by a pediatric mental health clincian to rule out any mood or anxiety disorder that might be contributing to her behavior and emotional state.

[spikeman3]

I appreciate the comment; however, they live in a small rural town where there are no private schools close and the one public school system is very substandard so my daughter will not put her in this school system.  That is why she has involved her in the dance and she is in a soccer league for a few weeks each year and in a church group once a week, but I guess this still is pretty limited.

Thanks.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Her life is overly focused on the family. Now, at her age the family should be the primary group. However, it's time she had more normal exposure outside the family. If her social interactions expanded to include school, for example, you'd likely see a change for the better in her mood and behavior.