Tuesday 25 February 2020

Worried my 9-yr old son is becoming a bully; this a.m. he kicked me


I'm mom to an almost 10-yr old boy. He is diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety and he is medicated. He's very emotional and has trouble controlling his impulses. However, he is often sweet, funny, and brave. He has friends and he's doing well in school (in part due to some amazing teachers.) But sometimes, he says or does something mean--insults a friend, threatens to destroy their stuff, thinks the dog is "cute" when frightened so he startles the dog on purpose. When we ask him how he would feel if someone treated him like that he becomes furious and says he would hit them! He's not seeing that the feelings of others matter as much as his own. That being said, he does express empathy and hates bullying. He has a friend with Downs Syndrome and is protective of him, for example. But he's quick to lash out. I thought maybe he is still emotionally immature and he will grow out of it eventually.This morning things escalated. He was watching TV before school and he yelled "F*ck", and I went to shut the TV. The rule is if he uses that word he immediately loses screen time. That's the only punishment that means anything to him. He tried to grab the remote out of my reach and suddenly yelled--apparently when we both went for the remote I pinched his finger. Before I could react or apologize he kicked me in the stomach. He looked horrified as soon as he realized what he'd done. I controlled my anger so as not to frighten him, but when I said there'd be consequences for kicking me he doubled down and said it was my fault for pinching him.He sees a therapist twice a month b/c his anxiety was leading to stomach issues and crying at school, but he hasn't reacted violently since he was 3 or 4 so we haven't discussed that with her. I really don't know what to do. My husband says he'd support me even if I decided our son loses TV and Minecraft for a month, but I'm not even sure he'd get why he's being punished. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/3chEjGa

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