DS2 such a show off its getting me down

[hadabadday]

My DS is like a jackyl and hyde, one minute he's the most inquisitive, interesting and cute little boy and the next he's annoying and irritating.

Last monday we went to the library, DS2 got himself a dinosaur book to read and sat down quietly in the big comfy leather chair to read it very sensibly, then we noticed one of his friends come in and and all hell broke loose, his friend immediately started grinning knowing what DS is like and they began chasing each other around the library, DS started makings tupid noises with friend laughing hysterically, he started being rude telling people to sniff his bum etc...in the end we had to leave.

Same thing happened yesterday at the bus stop, he was sat quietly and sensibly until a younger boy came along and sat next to him and that was it, DS sprung to his feet, began gnawing on his shirt, making stupid noises, being cheeky to me, diving around, making stupid comments...the other kid was in hysterics but everyone was looking at DS as if he was nuts.

Thing is it happens at school too, ds will not do any work unless he is sat completely on his own. His teacher showed me his litracy book from a time he allowed him to sit with his friend and he's drawn boobs all over, scribbled and torn bits of the paper, presumably to make his friend laugh.

It does my head in because he is very intelligent and capable but he prefers playing the clown which makes him look like a trouble causer and gets him behind in his work.

He's 6 but when he goes off on one he is absolutely uncontrollable. I tell him "if you carry on you will be going to bed early" (and I ALWAYS stick to this) and he replies "oh will I? will I? eh? eh? yes I will! goody goody! yes I will! etc etc.." I don't smack but when he gets like this I honestly feel like slapping him he's so annoying.

How do I deal with this?

[alucard]

bump. sorry can't help but sure someone can

[Nat1H]

Have you tried any other punishment apart from going to bed early? What about threatening to take a favourite toy or a planned treat away?

I would also worry about his behaviour at school. Maybe the work he is doing is either not stimulating enough or too hard. You say he's intelligent, but if he finds the work too easy, he will soon get bored and show off to his friends to amuse himself. Not only is he distracting himself, but the other children in the class. When he does this, does he attempt the work first, or does it start messing around straight away? If he was given more challenging work, then he may not be as bad at school. I would discuss this with his teacher in September, and suggest that, rather than separate him from his peers, they should perhaps find more appropriate work for him.

Maybe the incident in the library is due to the situation at school. He has possibly learned to act the fool, and when he saw a friend, maybe he felt that he had to act in this way to 'save face' with his peers.

I would try to talk to him about why he acts this way at school. It might give you some insight into his 'silly' behaviour.

I know this isn't easy with a 6 year old, but good luck.