compulsion.
The desire for self-discipline in many children in eight to ten years is becoming so strong that it makes them nervous because of trivialities. You probably remember this from your own childhood. The most common desire is not to step on the cracks on the asphalt. It does not make any sense, but you have a supernatural belief that you should not step on the cracks. This aspiration is called coercion by psychiatrists. Other examples are to touch every third pillar in the fence, look for "happy tickets" or pronounce certain words, approaching the door. If the child believes that he made a mistake, he returns to the place where everything was done quite rightly, and starts all over again.
The hidden meaning of coercion can be seen from the child's saying: "Who broke the neck - he broke his grandmother's neck".All of us sometimes have hostile feelings toward loved ones, but any person experiences remorse, having caught himself on the desire to harm them, and tries to get rid of him. And if the conscience is very strict, it continues to gnaw because of "bad" thoughts, even if it was possible to hide them in the subconscious. The child feels guilty, although he does not know what. And his conscience gets easier if he strictly abides by some meaningless rule, like the fact that one should not step on the cracks in the sidewalk.
The reason for the manifestation of coercion in a child at this age is not that earlier he did not have such evil thoughts, but that his conscience at this stage becomes stricter. We also know that at this age the child tries to suppress thoughts about sex, and this sometimes plays a role in the emergence of coercion.
Light compulsions are so common in eight to ten years that the question arises whether to consider them a norm or still a sign of nervousness. I would not worry too much about easy compulsions such as stepping over cracks, if in the rest the child is happy, sociable and normally studying at school. On the other hand, I would turn to a psychiatrist if coercion takes a lot of time for the child( if, for example, He constantly and for a long time washes his hands, takes strong precautions against bacteria and so on) and if the child is generally tense, nervous and unsociable.
Tick. Teak - is the same nervous habit as blinking, shoulder twitching, grimacing, neck twitching, coughing, snorting, dry cough. Like compulsion, a tick occurs most often in nine years, but can occur at any age, starting at two years old. Movement is usually rapid, repeated regularly and always in the same form. It becomes more frequent when a child experiences stress. Tick can last a few weeks or months, and then disappear forever or change to another. Blinking, snorting, coughing, dry cough usually begin after a cold, but continue when the cold has passed. Shoulder twitching may begin if the child puts on new clothes and feels like it is falling. A child can learn a tick from another child, but he would not have done it if the tension had not accumulated in him.
Teak is common in children who have very strict parents. Perhaps at home, children are under too much pressure. Sometimes parents are too strict with the child, constantly teach and correct, when he is in front of them. Or parents constantly express their disapproval, or set too high standards, or force simultaneously to engage in too many activities, such as dancing, music and sports. If the child had the courage to resist, he probably would have accumulated less tension. But in most cases, he is too well-brought up for this, and therefore restrains and accumulates irritation, which manifests itself in a tick.
Do not abuse the child because of a tick and do not correct it. He practically does not control his tick. We must make life in the family calm, achieve friendly relations, less abuse the child, try to make his life in the school satisfactory. Teak should be distinguished from the dance of St. Witt and general nervousness.