My 12 yr old DD is very negative sometimes. Often in situations she will think of the worst scenario that could happen. I tell her to be positive and see the best in things, but she just can't. For example, today she had to go get a physical to play sports at school and on the way she says, what if they find out I have cancer? What if they see that I have a disease? Does your tween/teen do this?

Hmmm....no, my kids don't do this. They have lots of OTHER faults, but not that. But basically we're just an overall fairly positive family. I know my kids have never been to a party they haven't said they had fun at. Or gone on a field trip they haven't enjoyed. They're just fairly easy to please. Now one of my best friends says that her children ALWAYS focus on the negative. Using my examples....she says if her kids go to a birthday party, when they get home and she asks them about it, they ONLY mention the bad things..."they only had chocolate cake and I like white cake", "They didn't sit by me"....yada, yada, yada. Same thing she says they always emphasize the negative about field trips and everything else.

So I'm not quite sure what to think about this. Maybe it's just a genetic predisposition towards a certain personality. Maybe the parents are role modeling negative behavior without being aware of it. But since my kids already have so many OTHER quirks, I'm glad this isn't one of them. I'm the sort of personality that doesn't like alot of whining, griping or negativity. So maybe they've just learned it doesn't pay to be negative around me. LOL

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My 10 YO DD isn't negative in the way you describe, but she is negative. This girl can't go anywhere without picking out the bad things that happened during her trip. If she goes to a party she will report back to me that "the cake tasted nasty" or "so-and-so said something bad". Field trips, she'll complain that something wasn't the way she expected or didn't go the way she thought it would, on and on and on. If I keep talking she will eventually tell me she had a good time, but I have just come to the conclusion she is nit picky and what to do about it, other than ignore it I haven't a clue. My 2 boys also did this about this age too but they've since quit and while they might share the negative things with me, they don't focus on it and let it ruin their fun. Must be an age thing. I hope!

My two oldest are not negative and they have tendency to stuff negative actions back at who delivered comment or action
My youngest is on the cusp- not totally negative not completely positive
both of which can be too much

My tween is not negative, but my 20 yo sure is!!! Everything and everyone is against her. I think it is more a personality trait than an age thing. (MY grandma is terribly negiatve about everything too)

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~Happiness is a large family~

Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. James 1:19

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24