Lissa is nine years old (ten in May) and she's starting to go through what I am assuming are pre-teen hormone-induced mood swings. She'll call me on the phone and tell me she's sad. She doesn't know why, she's just sad. And she sounds so freaking miserable and I don't know what to do.
I can't stand hearing her voice when it's all flat and dejected like that. I just want to reach through the telephone line and scoop her up and hug her until she feels better.
Dave and I have talked about it. These instances are cropping up maybe two or three times a week. I've been chalking it up to hormones but we've decided to get her to see a therapist just to make sure that she's not suffering from some sort of abnormal depression.
But still....what can I tell her at 9:30pm when she calls me and she's crying cus she's sad? And I tell her to get a hug from her father and she says he told her not to bother him this late at night? (Her bedtime is 9pm and he has to get up at 4am for work.)
I asked her whether he had tucked her in and read her a story and sang her her songs and gave her a good night hug and kiss and he did all that. I told her to get a piece of chocolate or hot cocoa because of the mood enhancing properties of chocolate. She said he wouldn't let her. I told her to do it anyway and have him call me if he had a problem with it.
DAMNIT!!!
What am I supposed to do??? This is my baby, my little girl. I hurt when she hurts. I cry when she cries. Every instinct in me wants to help her, wants to fix whatever's wrong, but I know this is (most likely) just a normal part of growing up. I remember when I was going through puberty and had mood swings all the time.
As women, we're used to it. We're used to being sad for no reason and we just buck up and get on with life (barring any sort of clinical depression, that is. I'm just referring to the occasional fits of malaise we suffer from sometimes). But how do you explain that to a child?
I just feel so f***ing powerless right now. My Lissa should ALWAYS be happy.
