Moody behaviour in children causes them to exhibit diverse multiple behavioural abnormalities that include obvious expressions of emotion such as sobbing, throwing things, pouting, etc. and hidden manifestations such as extreme sadness without obvious signs like tears, or irritability without any seeming cause. Parents often find display of moody behaviour among children difficult to deal with due to the fact that signs associated with moody behaviour are easy to be mistaken for other problems like unruly behaviour, disruptive behaviour, teen turmoil or misadventures.

However, disruptive or unruly behaviour is quite different from moody behaviour. Unruly behaviour is easy to detect because disruptive children break rules, which is the immediate cause of annoyance in parents or teachers.

Some signs of moodiness include instances when children say that parents do not love them, when they have sudden and severe changes in mood, when they have episodes of extremely unrealistic beliefs in own abilities, when they have episodes of lots of energy, when they can go with little or no sleep for several days, when they have episodes of talking too much, too fast, or too quickly, when they feel hopeless or helpless, when they feel guilty, when they are irritable or agitated, when they have episodes of low interest in usual activities, when they are always bored, when they do not eat well, when they prefer to be alone, etc.

Because some problems of mood are not easily recognised, the emotional meaning of moody behaviour is open to interpretation. Parents are required to remain alert with some children who experience extremes of sadness without tears or other obvious signs. These children may even think of taking their own life without giving any speck of suspicion to their parents. Therefore, parents should not ignore moody behaviour in children.

• Signs include obvious expressions of emotion such as sobbing, throwing things, pouting, etc.
• Hidden manifestations such as extreme sadness without obvious signs like tears or irritability without any seeming cause.
• Children say that parents do not love them.
• They have sudden and severe changes in mood.
• They have episodes of extremely unrealistic beliefs in own abilities.
• They have episodes of lots of energy.
• They can go with little or no sleep for several days.
• They have episodes of talking too much, too fast, or too quickly.
• These children cry often.
• They feel hopeless or helpless.
• They might think of suicide.
• They are irritable or agitated.
• They have episodes of unusually happy or stilly moods.
• They have episodes of low interest in usual activities.
• They have episodes of getting no pleasure from normally pleasurable activities.
• They often prefer to be alone.

Display of moody behaviour in children is a behavioural problem. Several reasons can be ascribed to this kind of behaviour among children. These include feeling of aloofness from parents, increase in stress, and absence of encouraging or happy situations at home. An increased intake of junk food and an unhealthy and improper diet can also cause mood swings in children.

Parents can do a lot to eradicate moody behaviour among children. Spend time with your children. It is extremely necessary for parents to give their attention to children to know about their daily state of mind. This way, children feel special and at the same time parents too manage to observe any change in children’s mood.

Let the children experience some happy moments each day. For the children to build up a positive emotional memory, parents need to find age-appropriate ways to help them take good moments into themselves. For example, you can spend a few minutes each night before bed encouraging children to review the day and recall or think about things that make them feel good.

Make efforts to keep your children free from stress. You need to hold back your tamper during negative situations since anger is the biggest stressor for most children. Some of the other reasons for stress among children are inappropriate expectations, too much pressure on studies, over-scheduling, too few breaks, relationship between parents, sibling rivalry, being at a new school, fear of tests, competition, failing grades, etc.

Ensure that your children are getting a proper diet. Give them a diet which is appropriate to their Ayurvedic body types (Vata, Pitta, or Kapha). (For knowing more about Ayurvedic body types, you can click on the link:
 http://www.jiva.com/ayurveda)

Use a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, and whole grains in their diet.

In case, you have tried all the above and still have questions regarding your child who displays moody behaviour, you can ask for a practical solution from Jiva. Jiva makes use of the know-how of its expert educationists and the wisdom from Ayurveda to provide you consultation for this kind of problem. Please feel free to contact Jiva at 0129-4088152 or write to us at asksteve@jiva.com. We will try our best to give a solution to your child’s problem with our expertise.