Does anyone else have a kid that overreacts?

Question

My son is 7 and he is always overreacting about everything. That includes if Im getting after him and trying to discipline him. He is always only with me, Im a stay at home mom and my husband works out of town. Anytime he does wrong and I begin to discipline him he completely goes beserk! For example, a few minutes ago he smacked his 3 year old brother in the head, so I got after him and told him to go to the corner and stay there until I told him to get up. He started screaming and crying really loud like I had just Beat him! I dont ever even spank him. He does this constantly and it really drives me insane and makes me very very upset. I feel like someone is going to hear him and think Im abusing him or something. ITs terrible! I dont know if he is trying to manipulate me, so I wont get after him, or if he seriously has some sort of problem. He is hyper active and His older brother has Aspergers Syndrome, but is completely different from him.

Does anyone else have a child that does this or does anyone have any Clue or suggestions about this type of behavior. I just dont konw what to do with him when he is acting like that.

Serious answers only please...

Thanks for the answers so far..:)

Answer 1

my son is non-diagnosed ADHD (has had therapy, but is too young for definitive diagnosis yet he is 5), he freaks out and does the same thing when I punish him, As if I am going to back down if he screams enough, I never back down on a punishment, I dont use coporal punishment, so we remove privililedges I.E. playing outside, video games, tv etc...

yesterday he had a melt down and refused to get on the school bus, because I spiked his hair, so i had to drive him to school, which meant he lost outside time that afternoon, which led to another fit.. etc...

I would suggest having his pediatrician or school evaluate him, its possible that he has some social/emotional milestones that he needs some help reaching. Or in fact he is just very stubborn LOL...

Stand true to your punishments, also have you tried using some of the behavioral mods that you use for your other son (if you have them in place, the ones we have have really helped my sons behavior especially at school)

Good luck, and remember to get some "me" time, you need it when you have challenging children.

Answer 2

Children are in a power struggle with your discipline and rule at this age...

They are trying to exert their independence and learn from trial and error... even if it means learning what happens when you smack your little brother upside his head! Take notice of how he reacts immediately after doing something like that... Kids like to swat and smack or push and hurt just enough, and then they instinctually stand back and really watch the other childs reaction, like they are learning something from it...

When you intervene, you are basically ruining an otherwise prefectly rational experiment! Hence the temper tantrum.

Children try and mirror and mimic what the know from what they see. You say that your hubby isin't home often or works out of town or something along those lines? Maybe he is both fruestrated over it and is also trying to do what he feels the man of the house should do? What does Daddy do to get a little peace and quiet?

Males are very instinctual and primal... They will do what they see and feel as right and test boundaries and push envelopes.

Speaking to your child is good (like in Supernanny land) but not all children are that easy to confrom to your influence alone, after they have basically trained a reaction out of you that works for them. The addition of the third person is usually what snaps the kid out of it... not the changes. Not everyone is going to be lucky enough to have a perfect stranger come in and shock or rearrange them into good behavior...

I'd go with isolation... no sense in having a tantrum when there is no one there to see or hear him having it right?

I see your time out... and raise you a short stint in MOMS room where there is absoultely NOTHING to do!

If that doesn't work... Everytime he is bad, make him clean something! He will get the picture eventually and decide that behaving is better than doing the dishes!

Answer 3

I have a student in my 3rd grade class who is extremely melodramatic. Once he actually had a panic attack and couldn't breathe well enough to explain why he was upset. I've talked with his mother about it, and she's well aware that he's very sensitive. He's also very intelligent, so it's usually just a matter of calmly reasoning with him.

If your older son has Aspergers, it's possible the younger son is acting out to get attention he feels is being taken by his older brother.

Since your son is in school (I'm assuming due to his age), I would speak with the school counselor about your concerns. If you think there may be some disorder, you can request to have your son tested. Parent requests for testing must be honored by the school (at least in my district, lol). If there's nothing diagnostically wrong, it'd still benefit him to see the school counselor. She/he can offer him suggestions for ways to control his anger and express his feelings in a more positive way. Plus it's nice to get pulled out of class and have the undivided attention of an adult. :)

Best wishes! I can't imagine how frustrating this must be for you.

Answer 4

Call Supernanny! :)
But, if that doesn't work it is probably time to talk to your pediatrician about a referral. It could possibly be something he can't control or maybe certain strategies can be used by you that will help get this under control.
Maybe he is just acting out for attention.
It sounds like you need a professional before he gets older and bigger than you.
Good luck and god bless.

Answer 5

I'd scream and go beserk if someone told me to stand in the corner to! You don't realize it, but sending him to the corner shames him and makes him feel "not worthy" of being around people when he acts bad. He's probably not screaming because he's being stubborn, he's probably screaming because it hurts his feelings and makes him feel isolated when mom sticks him in the corner.

If I were you, I'd spank him. Maybe you don't agree with that but that's too bad. Certain kids require certain punishments and obviously time outs don't work on him.

Answer 6

my 2 year old girl dose it. any time i tell her something she sreams blood murder like i just killed her i noticed with her that when she dose it if you pay no attention to her she quites but if you say something it get worse so try not paying attention to him when he dose this. but do not stop punishing he is tring to manipulate you so that he won't get in trouble anymore dont give in also he might be hyper sensitive if so as a doctor?

Answer 7

I HAVE A DAUGHTER WHO IS NOW 5 AND USED TO ACT LIKE THAT I ASKED DOCTOR HOW TO HANDLE HER BEHAVIOR HE SUGGESTED A BREATHING ASSIGNMENT. WHEN SHE STARTED TO ACT LIKE THAT I PULLED HER A SIDE AND I TELL HER TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND I DO THIS WITH HER. IT TAKES AWHILE BUT IT WILL WORK ALSO I USED TO HAVE TO HOLD HER ON MY LAP WITH MY LEG OVER HERS AND HUG HER UNTIL SHE STOPPED THE FIT EVENTUALLY SHE WOULD STOP BUT AS TIME WENT ON THE LENGTH OF TIME TO GET HER TO CALM DOWN WAS LESS AND LESS HOPE THIS HELPS GOOD LUCK

Answer 8

YES. But he's not my kid. Every time my brother Daniel gets so much as bumped he runs screaming to my parents, and it's SO annoying... (Sighs). I can tottaly sympathize.

I usually just ignore him and so do my parents

Answer 9

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