I was wondering if anyone else besides me has a child who is ALWAYS \"sick\" has an \"owie\" or \"pain\"?? My daughter Pennielane is constantly complaining that she needs medicine or a band aid or that she has some other type of ailment and tonight I just about lost it....after praying and singing and tucking in and then having to send her back to bed a few times she comes out with her foot bleeding, she purposely picked the scab on her foot to make it bleed so she could 1, get back up AGAIN, 2 get MORE attention and 3, get that longed for band aid, I told her that if she was doing what she was supposed to be doing, SLEEPING, that she wouldn't have been bleeding....I guess I just need to vent but it would be helpful if anyone would share their experiences in similar areas and how they handle it...I am to the point where I am not very sensitive and I am kind of like, boo hoo hope you feel better soon....is that mean? It just drives me absolutely up the wall, just today it was her tummy, two different teeth, her eye, she was so sick that she wants to stay home from church tomorrow, and then of course the foot....I have tried all kinds of things like the whole, \"let me give you some vegetables to make it feel better\" or suggesting some other thing that I know she would not like but nothing seems to take away her urge/desire to constantly tell me that things are wrong with her...how do I love on her as a good mommy and not let her get away with it at the same time?? It is like the whole crying wolf thing and I am really frustrated and unsure of how to continue dealing with the all day incidents....any suggestions?? Meg

Well, I'm not going through this, but I'd like to offer some advice that I could give from my previous experience from my younger brother.

I think that you should sit down and talk to her about the strain she's putting on you. Firstly, your other children deserve attention just as much as she does. Explain to her that she can't do that unless it's a REAL emergency, because if there one day is a real emergency- you may not be as sufficient in believing her because of this. I doubt she'll want to suffer through a real crisis.

If that fails and she doesn't understand, then just ignore her unless it really seems like something's wrong. Remember this always: being a good parent does NOT mean that your child is never upset.

OR here's the funny option. You can do something to teach her a lesson. Tell her that she has the symptoms of a really rare disease. It'll scare her- but hey, she'll learn quick from that. We did this to my younger brother and after that, he shut his mouth unless he was throwing up, he was desprately bleeding or his foot was swollen.

Hope I helped some.

Hi Meg!

I know of an easier way to train a child not to do that. What you do is make a little recipe of 'medicine' out of stuff that will be good for her, but won't taste good. (apple cider vinegar with garlic or something gross like that.)
Tell her that it is a cure all medicine and whenever she complains or hurts herself on purpose, give her a table spoon of it.

This really seems to work, and it doesn't give the child the emotional burden of feeling like they are a hassle, and it doesn't make you have to scare them.

Well, let us know what you decide to do and how it works.

hey!
this is funny becuase I was the same way when I was a kid. Part of it was wanting attention, ( i have a big family) and another part was my unusual curiosity for all things medical. Medicine, bandaids, drs, I wanted to know about all of that. My parents had to teach me that just becuase something isn't comfortable or perfect, doesn't mean there is something necisarily wrong, bought me a toy dr. bag that was pretty realistic, and gave me my own first aid kit, lacking any dangerous medicine or tools, of course. that way I could play dr. on other people, cureing the attention seeking, use as many bandaids and anibiotic ointment I felt necsisary, and they thought I'd eventually grow out of it. Then, at one of my checkups, my mom had the dr. explain to me why it was important to only complain about something if there is a real problem, making something up about self-harm. alot of times it stemmed from someone at school or in the neighborhood who was sick or had something wrong and got special treatment becuase of it.
hope that helps!

I have the same issue with my 7 year old daughter. She's always complaining of a headache, stomach ache, stuffy nose, leg pain . . . you name it. She'll start limping out of nowhere. When I ask her why she tells me of some fall or something (that I didn't even know about). As she gets occupied with other things the limping will stop. She seems clumbsy to begin with so ANY time she falls or even stubs her toe you might think she broke a bone. If she trips, rather than catching herself like most kids would do, she practically throws herself on the floor and crys. It is so frustrating! I don't know how to react because I know she is being overly dramatic. I feel so horrible but I have no sympathy for her when she does this. I feel cold but the only way I know how to deal with it is to ignore the behavior. I've tried explaining that if she crys over every little bump and bruise that I won't know when she is really hurt. But to that she just stomps her feet into her room. What am I supposed to do?

I'm going through the same type of thing right now. The school just phoned. My daughter hadn't been there for 5 min. when it started. The teacher has phoned several times and is frustraed herself. My daughter is in grade 2 and has been complaining of a sore stomach since Kindergarten. We've taken her to the doctor and physically everything seems fine. Last night she freaked on me because I wanted to cut her toe nails. She's never liked it but this was rediculous. I'm at my wits end! I don't know what to do next. We give our girls "special time" every alternating nights, one will stay up later and spend time alone with Mom and Dad. I myself suffer from ongoing depression, she has seen me at my lowest and I wonder if this has affected her