7 year old - anger and tone
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Our 7 year old boys anger and tone has gotten so awful and disrespectful. HELP!! What has worked or is working for everyone?!
He will just yell NO! NO! , or YOU STOP!!
Makes me want to smack him, it’s so rude!!
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Hi @MotherShip I’m glad you asked about this. It sounds like he may be vying for more power/control in the world. It’s common at this age for kids to stop responding to “can you please…” or “hey. You need to…” if we are sort of making a lot of requests or corrections through the day. Some things that may help include:
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Bringing him to the table - to get his ideas for how it can go better. Ie. “Hey. I notice you saying ‘no’ a lot. So what ideas do you have for how we can make those situations better?” (Note - he may ask you to stop nagging or something like that. If so - consider option 2)
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arrive to come across a bit more like an equal, in making requests. Ie. “Hey. The table needs to get set. What part do you think you could help with and what part should I do?” “What ideas do you have for getting your room clean this weekend?”
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May as many agreements in advance as possible. I find kids at this age are less likely to do things when asked in the moment- but more cooperative when it’s been agreed ahead of time. Is. If he has a daily chore and it is written on the fridge each day, or there is a container of chore options and he is asked to choose one each day - before tech or friend time, then when you are nudging him with a reminder it can sound more like, “remember- when you are done with the chore, u can absolutely head to your iPad” or “wait. I notice you are about to walk out the door and your chore isn’t done yet,”.
And here are few other thoughts on the topic : https://sustainableparenting.com/sassing-interrupting-and-pushing-boundaries-more-and-more/
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