Hair twirling

[Schmickers]

Find the worst tasting hair gel you can? It works for fingernails.

Otherwise, I would tentatively suggest visiting the GP and asking for a referral to a child psychologist. I hate to see children labeled at such a young age, and I don't think that is what will happen. It sounds to me like a very mild form of OCD, which believe it or not is not uncommon in children at that age. A psychologist might be able to give some advice about strategies to distract her and break the habit.

[lmbmcb]

Hi
This is a link with answers about hair twirling and other childhood habits. It may only be a habit but some people develop a bigger problem that needs to be dealt with as early as possible. Perhaps your friend should see a paedeatrician if she is concerned.
Regards
Lmbmcb.
http://www.todaysparent.com/behavior...10_170056_3252

[~clover~]

Hi all.
Well I talked to my friend again this morning. Her DD doesn't actually suck on her hair anymore, its just the twirling & pulling.
I said to maybe tell her her hair would turn blue, but she agreed that it probably wouldn't make a difference. She might give it a go though!
She was already talking about taking her to a paediatritian about that & her being a bit of a bully & extremely loud, so I did suggest maybe a child psycologist.
She is holding off on that for now as they are living in Brissy ATM, but are moving back to where her family is (same place I'm moving to). So she's hoping once they are there & are all less stressed it'll settle.
Thanks again for all the ideas & info.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Sound like something else might be going on for her, rather than it being 'just a thing' - like the link says, it says it could be a 'something', or just a habit and you need to look at the whole picture to see what the child is telling you, without actually telling you!
It's great that your friend has you as a friend who isn't afraid to be caring enough to help her look into it. Lots of people would just gossip about it and speculate, leaving the mother high and dry and worrying about it all alone More of people like you please!!

[~clover~]

Thanks Mayaness.
Unfortunately its probably because I'm all alone, being the one gossiped about when my 6 year old throws a tanty screamimg in the supermarket, that I like to help others having problems with their kids.
I know what its like. People just assume DD1 is a spoilt brat & that I let obviously get away with murder or she wouldn't act like that.

[Smoke Jaguar]

A pox on those people :P I know people think my DS is spoilt - I had one lady tell me recently "I can see that he gets away with anything", just because I didn't smack him or publicly humiliate him for taking her water bottle from the side of the pool (sure, it's a fun-looking bottle beside a pool where there are no other kids cos he's a bit advanced with his swimming and can use the big pool...bite me!). Before kids, I was probably one of those people, too