BPDFamily.com

My son-in-law has Borderline Personality Disorder.  His daughter also has it.  I wondered if there are signs or red flags that signal a child 4-5 years may develop it.  Some of my grandsons behaviour seems a bit different and I feel it may be indicative of Borderline in the future.  Does anyone know if this could be visible at this young age?

The common answer is that it's impossible to tell because many of the behaviors that define BPD are actually normal for children; it's only when they fail to shed those behaviors as they age that it becomes a dysfunction.  That said, having a BPD parent seems to be a pretty big red flag - and studies have shown that schizophrenic parents often lead to BPD children...but other than measuring the calibre of the parents, "not really".

Yes, that is what I have been thinking.  I believe that to be true too.  Just have to hope he doesn't have it and put things in place to give him the best chance not to.

My mother had BPD and my brother has BPD. My mother and brother were very similar as young children: unable to get things done even the simplest of tasks, moody, bad temper, problems with emotional regulation, all of which seemed out of the norm for their age because of the extreme degree of these challenges.

Ensuring a child receive empathy, knows they're loved  and minimizing trauma is the best way to do that.