A MUM has claimed her daughter’s behaviour is so bad it’s as if she’s been ‘possessed’ as she smacks nursery staff and hurls drawers at people.
Single mum Shannon, from Loughborough, enrolled four-year-old Tegan in Britain’s Naughtiest Nursery, to try and get a handle on her outbursts.
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Shannon, also mum to baby Malachi, explains Tegan is attached to dummies and comfort blankets, especially the latter, and throws a tantrum whenever she’s separated from them.
The mum-of-two fears how Tegan will cope when she goes to primary school and she can’t take her comforter with her.
Tegan is seen screaming, crying and tearing her room apart as she hurls drawers at her mum who retreats outside for safety in the 5Star series.
Shannon said: “Tegan is like a tornado, like a Tasmanian devil. She will destroy anything that’s in her way.
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“If she don’t get something she wants, that’s one of the main triggers.”
Shannon said Tegan has been hard to handle since she turned one, and her behaviour was only getting worse.
She said: “From when she was about one, one-and-a-half, that’s when her tantrums started and then it’s just got worse and worse as the years have gone on, just the anger.
“She just goes so red, just to hold her or stop it was hard work for a child that young.
“It’s difficult because I want to spent time with her and when she starts winding me up I thought go to bed, go away. But I don’t want it to be like that.”
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But Tegan’s behaviour was deteriorating, with Shannon explaining: “If she wants something and you don’t do it right then and there, she will kick off.
“She will throw absolutely anything she can get her hands on at you.
“She’s very much like she’s a bit possessed sometimes.
“Nobody can stop it, it’s when she wants to stop it. She’s exhausting She’ll just keep pushing you and pushing you.”
Tegan was currently attending a local nursery, but seemed withdrawn and didn’t engage with the children.
Shannon said: “She’s quite loud and in your face at home. But then nursery she’s held back a lot in how she is.”
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Staff at the specialist nursery, led by child psychologist, Laverne Antrobus, noticed how Tegan isolated herself, sitting alone while clutching her blanket and dummy.
Laverne noticed there was “two different sides of Tegan”, one at nursery and one at home.
But her tantrums soon come out after she goes outside to play – and her comforter gets locked inside.
Tegan has a meltdown, screaming while frantically trying to open the doors.
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And she repeatedly smacks the staff whenever anyone comes near her, causing them to back away.
They tried to get Tegan to articulate her feelings, saying: “It’s trying to get Tegan to understand how she’s feeling and name those feelings and understand that things are going to change we can help her through it.”
Tegan eventually joins in the group, with staff persuading her put her dummy in a ‘safe place’, and with her comforter out of sight, she’s able to engage with the other children.
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Showing Shannon the transformation, Laverne says: “She’s given them up today, and it’s allowed her to be more involved.
“She’s managed to keep connected with the group, it’s the sense of having a place in the group.
“She’s liked feeling involved.”
Shannon is relieved Tegan is making progress, and is positive about when she starts school.
She said: “I really enjoy watching her play with other children, and it’s not playing up.
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“It’s nice to see her getting involved.
“I’m seeing a different side from when we first came here, it made me really happy to think that she can get along with children and she can join in.”
Britain’s Naughtiest Nursery airs tonight on 5Star at 9pm.
And this tot was taken to the nursery for swearing at her mum and trying to climb out windows.
Plus this lad was taken to Britain’s Naughtiest Nursery after regularly hitting his mum and strangling her.
Meanwhile this mum keeps kids quiet by telling them they need to lie still to ‘charge’ their glow-in-the-dark pyjamas.
