Now, before I begin, I have to say this. I LOVE my kids. I really, really do. Still, I do not GET where their recent attitudes have come from. Actually, I'm pretty sure that it is somehow related to MY attitude, but I digress.
My daughter, the one who we are watching for ODD (and no, not just being odd, but oppositional defiance disorder), I get. She lives for attitude. She is giving me practice for when she is in puberty and the attitude manifests itself like one of those dinosaurs you put in water. One day its a little cute dino. The next day, it was swelled to 52 times its size and could bite your head off.
No, the issue comes from my son. He is still empethetic. He still does well in school . But now, he has attitude. And not just a little. A. LOT.
Today I made him stand in time out for at least 20 minutes and he wasn't phased in the least. When I have asked him to do something, he looks at me and does whatever he wants to. o_O
All I want to know is - who is this kid and where did my regular kid go?
I try to blame it on the sleep issues, which after one busted med attempt isn't any better than it was months ago. Then I think "Oh, he's getting older, that's what it is."
Then I remember that if I had talked to my mom like that, she woulda slapped the taste out of my mouth. I still don't taste everything as it is, I'm sure.
This doesn't help me. I am becoming angry, and from a mom who prides herself on her patience, this is not a good thing.
I am yelling more, which I do not like. I am saying things that I do not like, just because it gets his attention (sometimes). I am frustrated on a regular basis and I can't do this. I have a stressful enough life without being stressed about something like this.
So, readers, I ask you - how do you prevent getting angry and how do you deal with the 'tude?
