Hi, this is Janet Lansfrey. Welcome to Unruffled. Well, today I'm going to be talking about,

it's one of my favorite types of children. I like all children, but I have a special fondness for these

strong-willed children. I mean, I wasn't like that as a child, but I just find them so interesting.

Anyway, in this case, this parent's having a hard time because her seven-year-old daughter,

she says, is just full of negativity. She's argumentative about everything, says, no, she won't do

this, won't do that, has a comeback

constantly. And this parent's wondering why this is still going on and what she can do to make it

better and sort of what's going on with her child. But she's also very perceptive like so many of the

parents that write to me. So this came to me on, I believe it was a Facebook message.

Here's what the parents said.

Hi, Janet. I've been having a tough time with my seven-year-old daughter lately.

She's very argumentative.

It feels like everything is a debate.

Says no to almost every request. A few of the school moms have expressed

the same struggles. My daughter's a very strong-willed child, and I was just wondering if you think

that the behavior is stemming from the big change of preschool to grade one. I know you often say

these big life events can have unsettling effects on our

kids, like a new brother or sister, etc. Maybe we forget that starting primary school is as big a life

change as any, and our seven-year-olds are also just trying to adapt. Would love your opinion. Thank you so much.

So yes, to everything this parent said.

I mean, I even remember going from kindergarten to first grade and the pressure that it suddenly felt.

I mean, in my day, kindergarten was a time that was, it was just a half day, and you had a nap and a carton of milk.

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