6 year old offensive behavior!

[mom2girlseo]

I'm hoping for some answers to my daughter's recent highly offensive behavior.  My husband and I have both recently witnessed her scratching her genital area then sniffing her finger and placing her finger in her mouth (I know this sound really gross!).  We were quite horrified to witness such behavior.  My husband explained to her that she needed to wash her hands and she screamed and fell to a ball on the floor.  It was the end of the day and we knew she was exhausted from a very long day at school.  I witnessed the same thing a few moments later.  Horrified at this I tried to remain calm and I wispered in her ear that she would need to go and wash her hands.  Thank goodness, she calmly did so.  

I'm not sure what to make of this strange, gross behavior.  We had a visitor and she was extreemly jelous, seeking the visitor's attention with her behavior by throwing a tantrum.  She seems to seek attention from everyone and definately is dealing with jelousy from her three year old sister.

Help!

Thank you!

[mom2girlseo]

Thank you for the advice.  I also spoke with my mom who is a retired school nurse and always has great advice!  She too mentioned this wasn't terribly inappropriate behavior.  We will have a talk tonight about the public vs. private as well.  I did mention in a private conversation when our friend was visiting that she did need to wash her hands when she did this.  Thankfully, she did respond and washed them right away.

We are learning about what really is the best way to deal with her in extreme tantrum situations.  As I say to my husband, "take a deep breath, stay calm and consistant", and yes there will be an end to the tantrum (a good night's sleep).

All children are different and our oldest is a wreck without the right amount of sleep (almost always the root of her irrational behavior/tantrums).  As a result we are very consistant with bedtime routine.  It's just not worth the battle!

Thanks for the advice! :)

[LRM1021]

Specifically, I think you need to teach your daughter that this is not public behavior, that its private, and its a good idea to talk to her about washing her hands. I think that this is not too unusual behavior in children of this age-- they just need to learn about public vs. private.

I am not sure that this behavior has anything to do with tantrums at all-- and I'm not clear whether you are asking for advice on tantrums anyway, cause it sounds like you know the root cause of her tantrums and have a way of dealing with them.