Obsessive or spoiled?

[Guest guest]

My 11 year old daughter K has OCD (anxiety mostly, not rituals) and is taking

Zoloft. She is a collector, and one of the things she collects is Webkinz

stuffed animals. She has many of them on her bed and would sleep buried in them

if we let her. She used to play with them online but that has fallen off in

favor of the Pixie Hollow website, which she loves and would play for hours a

day if we let her. Tonight we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner and on the way

in, she spotted a pink Webkinz lamb that she wanted. She was worried that it

wouldn’t be there when we finished dinner so she asked the cashier to hold it

for her. After we were seated and had eaten, she got up and went to the

bathroom to wash her hands, and somewhere along the way she spotted a Webkinz

ferret, and all of a sudden she HAD to have this particular stuffed animal. If

it had been one of the $15 ones like the lamb she picked out first, I wouldn’t

have cared. But the ferret had to be one of the Special Editions and it was

$25. Sorry, but no way I’m spending that on a toy impulsively. Plus we have

two daughters and if daughter #2 lobbied for a similar item, we’re up to $50.

So we told her no, but that she could have the lamb she chose first. She fell

apart. It was quiet, but she was weeping! Blotchy face, real tears, the whole

works, but not a screaming, writhing fit. She is incredibly worried that when

she does have the money the store won’t have any more ferrets.

In the past, I will admit that I have tended to over-buy for my kids and I like

to treat them, but I DON’T always buy them every single thing they ask for. I

do make them wait sometimes. This particular child feels everything so deeply

that I probably tend toward spoiling her, but it seems to matter to her so much

that I wonder if it’s OCD talking, or just spoilage. She’s stopped crying

now, but I know that ferret will come up in conversation for days upon days upon

days, until it’s in her possession. That makes it sound like OCD. Any

thoughts?

Kim A.