My six-year-old daughter, Eleanor, has recently started biting her nails. Last week one of the cuticles became quite inflamed, and I was concerned that I would need to take her to the doctor. She has always been quite a “mouthy” child, and even now, despite repeated gentle discouragement, I find her chewing on hair clips or shirtsleeves. I have struggled with nail-biting all my life, but managed to stop when I was in my twenties, and I know how hard it is to break the habit. How can I discourage her from starting at such a young age? She is a very happy, contented child in every other respect, so…

Fear of Father Christmas: My five-year-old daughter has always been naturally wary of strangers. Even as a baby she wouldn’t smile at people that she didn’t know, and would begin to cry when strangers talked to her in her pushchair. In the Christmas holidays we had planned to take her to London to meet Father Christmas with her cousins, but when I told her about this outing she became very upset. She told me she didn’t want Father Christmas to visit her, and was really alarmed at the thought of him coming down the chimney at home. With Christmas fast approaching I am concerned that she will see images of…

My two-and-a-half-year-old son has become really obsessive about certain things. Usually about things being done in a certain order or being put back in exactly the right place. For example if I put his pants on before his vest, he has to take them off and start again, in the ‘correct’ order. This means that simple things take twice as long as they should. I know he is only young and trying to be independent but do you think this behaviour is normal? I don’t want it to develop into a major obsession. Don’t worry! The short answer to this question is that following routines and wanting things done in…

My daughter, Abigail (age 2 ¾), has recently become very much more cuddly with me than she usually is. I’m very happy about this, but it is slightly unusual because she’s started calling herself ‘Baby Abigail’. She wants to be held on my lap like a baby and cuddled – she’s even suggested sitting on my knee like this and having her milk (which she hasn’t done since she was 9 months when she started having her milk in a beaker). Yesterday we were having a cuddle and she said ‘Baby Abigail’ and leaned back so I could rock her, pulled my T-shirt up and said ‘Mummy’s booby milk’. She…

I am concerned that my six-year-old son displays sexualised behaviour. He will try to fondle my bottom or grope my breasts. Last week he tried to pummel a little girl with his penis on a play-date. He tries to spy on me in the shower. His father and I are separated, but my son stays with him every fortnight for a few days. Last week he said something about Daddy getting into the bath with his penis, and then when I asked him calmly what exactly Daddy had been doing he went silent. And recently my ex-partner showed me videos he had taken in which my son and his cousin…