Aibu to be so irritated by this boy

Sounds to me like he is just asking questions to chat, or he is a bit stream of consciousness and says whatever is in his head.

Sounds like a normal 6 year old to me, but he isn't your own flesh and blood so you aren't as used to his ways as you are with your own kids. So its more mentally taxing for you.

I'd go with a PP's suggestion of asking him (for example) about the plates so he stays on one topic for a while, and just let him natter on.

He sounds...normal. He's not demanding things or throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his own way. He's just asking and then accepting your answer.

Sounds an awful lot like my 6 year old if I'm being honest 😁

OP, I understand it can get a little annoying but he does not sound too bad. Yes, he is testing but just firmly and politely respond back. Honestly, there are much more challenging 6 year olds out there and this behaviour would be more annoying if he was perhaps 10 but he's only 6.

a different take, but could it be that he is trying to make conversation and doesn't really know how. he just wants to chat to you and thinks that a request is something to talk about.

next time he asks for a different plate, ask him to describe what he likes about the plate, or how he thinks plates are made, or how many plates he could stack on top of a bus or any other silly question that might get him to think. if you can get good at these open ended questions, he may just natter away and you only need to half-listen!

That would do my head in. I would just announce to everyone "ok no more questions now, let's have some quiet time"

It sounds like you are tired and his behaviour in your home is contributing.

It also sounds as though he mostly talks to you rather than your children?

I would probably make a couple of minor changes. Start by having the menu visible somewhere and just reminding him to look there after you've answered about the food once. Redirecting to the board/fridge whatever will help to avoid discussion. You can also pre-list activities to avoid conversation on which games are allowed.

And I'd also if you possibly can try to encourage him to socialise with your kids, or at least the elder one. Sounds like he's using up your social battery. Totally normal especially for an only child but he has 2 others to play with at your house.

I had a 4 year old boy staying with me like this. Exhausting. What was worse is when I said No he kept asking Why . Not a huge deal really but was always glad to see him go . I did comment to his mother that I felt I couldn't fulfill his needs . She told me that he was a chancer and to continue to say No when I wanted to .

Telling a 6yr old kid he is annoying is emotional abuse, I would not stand for it.

He's old enough to understand that he's being annoying. But needs telling/reminding. You could turn it around and ask him some questions 😁

Sorry is this not normal? My child is like this and yes it is annoying but I never considered it abnormal or that I’d been indulging her / not holding boundaries or her being entitled. I thought all kids were like that, is that not the case?

Yes this would be irritating but I’m sure your 5 year old does something irritating as all children do.

Sone kids don’t speak up about what they want to eat, refuse food, eat at the pace of a snail, make a mess or have some other annoying eating habit.

Be grateful that his behaviour is just annoying rather than full on challenging 🤷🏽‍♀️

Annoying but cute at the same time. I think it's fine to show exasperation and just tell him to be quiet and eat/play/whatver he's supposed to be doing.

Why is that so odd? The op and her neighbour have a childcare swap arrangement? Im assuming she wouldn't like her dd being posted about? This child is only 6 and hasn't done anything wrong. I think you finding my comment so odd, is odd!

Sounds slightly annoying but you do get childcare in return so I think I'd suck it up. Maybe pre-empt his questions by laying out how the afternoon will go " so Jack, dinner will be spag bol, you and (your dc) can play in the garden for 15 mins until its ready, if you want to get the paints/scissors glue out, you can do that when the table has been cleared after dinner, all good?" He will probably still mither you a bit but it sounds like he likes to know what's next.

If someone felt the way you do about my child I wouldn’t want them in your company as life’s too short.

Im a “child” person so it wouldn’t bother me and be very little effort gently l steer if I thought manners could be improved. I couldn’t find it irritating as he’s still very little and learning.

Kids are all different. He sounds a bit like my dd (same age). She tries to keep me engaged by asking/ telling me stuff a lot. But I’m used to it and I know how to deal with it. It can still be tiring sometimes though. There are often really good qualities that go with this personality type that balance it out, but that’s when they’re your own kid. But I don’t think he sounds rude, no and “entitled” (even “a bit”) is ridiculous, he’s six years old. Sounds like you just don’t want to look after him, maybe you think you’re getting the raw end of the deal? She might feel similar about yours though. I find any other kids harder to deal with than my own and I think a lot of people are the same.

He sounds like a young primary aged child who doesn’t have any siblings.

Quite right!

This line from a previous post "He does sound a little too comfortable in your home feels unbelievably mean.

It sounds like his mum gives him a lot of choices all the time, and he expects the same from you. He also like to talk and engage you, which is good. Try to turn it around a bit. Let him know what's on the menu, but there are no changes, and maybe ask him about his day or what game or cartoon he likes to watch.

I think it's cute. My DC is really shy and wouldn't ask anything, I like when his chatty friends come round.

Yes you’re tired and yes he’s annoying, but he’s only 6. It’ll be good for him to learn your boundaries asap. Good luck

He's testing your boundaries

That's all

My son is very much like this. Talks a lot and seeks a lot of engagement and asks a lot of questions.

He sounds quite polite, if I'm honest, and he's only 6. But you're not unreasonable to find it irritating – I find my son quite irritating for this reason too!

The boy asks for things a lot of the time which i find quite demanding but not sure if im being unfair.

He is being polite! Would you rather he just took what he wanted? Helped himself to scissors, ice cream, clothes?