CHILD EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Attention or affection seeking behaviours may be concerning because they are uncharacteristic for the child.
They may include:
- frequent psychosomatic complaints
- headaches,
- nausea,
- abdominal pains,
- or risk taking behaviours
- compulsive lying or stealing
They are also likely to crave attention and affection and this could include being over demanding, and making up or actually suffering illness and complaints - usually headaches, nausea and belly aches.
It can also include risk taking which tends to attract attention such as climbing high or playing rough so as to get the attention of adults.
Humans, like most other animals, are born with survival instincts – and survival depends on the attention of parents – so craving attention is not a disorder – it’s an instinct. All humans crave attention to some extent. That’s why a baby’s cry is so irritating as opposed to sounding like sweet music – it’s to get our attention and make us do whatever it takes to make it stop!
So when that attention isn’t given to the child at home some children instinctively seek it outside of home – and sometimes to the point where they become inappropriate or obsessed about it. This behaviour also makes them vulnerable to sexual assault.
Compulsive lying or stealing can be an attention seeking behaviour, but can also be a sign of fear – eg the child spills their orange juice and denies doing it – telling you that someone else did it – because they fear consequences. They might also resort to stealing things rather than asking for them because they fear the response.