Silly loud behaviour, talking rubbish, not listening... Normal 8 year old boy behaviour?

[fluffyhamster]

DS2 has just turned 8.

He used to be a fairly quiet, shy little thing - perhaps a bit too shy - and lacking in confidence.

He has changed in the last few months.

He is always shouting. Whinges rather too much. Arguing back about everything.
Seems obsessed with 'rude' noises, bottoms, willies - lots of silly giggling and made up words with his friends.
And in fact he seems to be talking utter rubbish lots of the time e.g.

Me: "Where are your football boots, DS?"
Him: "They're in the hairy bottom cupboard..."

I don't really like it. It won't go down well at school. I don't remember DS1 being like this.

DS2 struggles a bit socially and academically, and I guess I'm a bit worried he's developing this silly behaviour to mask some other insecurities?

Or are all 8 year old boys like this?

How long does it last?

Sounds a bit like dd (6).

Yes - he seems a bit immature at times. I keep telling him that his friends will not want to play with him if he keeps being so silly.....

I hate to say that if his friends are anything like dd's it'll go down a storm . . . Sounds exactly like the conversations they have all the time

dont worry they are discovering the real world just ignore it or make um noises now and then,

Normal 8yr old behaviour.

My dh still does this, and he's 44.

Whilst I think it's pretty normal and very probably a phase for your ds ... my ds2 is similar. To cut a long story short he lacks confidence in the classroom and struggles to keep up academically. He's social skills are still 'developing' although he loves being around other kids and really enjoys their company. Personally, I believe my son has developed these traits as a 'mask' to make up for the other areas he finds tricky. He makes the other kids laugh and therefore enjoys the attention and gratification. I also think the older they get, the more aware they are of their 'issues' and develop coping strategies to help them. These are obviously my own experiences which may or may not help with your original question. Good luck anyway

MadamSin - it sounds very similar to my DS, and I think exactly the same - he's discovered he can get attention by being silly...

The problem is, I've seen firsthand how it can backfire later on - I have DS1 (10) and there's a similar lad in his class. Problem is that they are all now bored with his silliness and he is getting alienated .

I'm not sure quite how to play it with DS2? I don't want to demolish his 'coping' strategies, but I don't think this is a particularly good one...

Yes, I can see my ds's behaviour alienating him if it continues. The other kids mature and his still acting the 'goon'. As a parent, we just have to talk to them and explain why some of the behavior is inappropriate. I do lots of chatting about acceptable behaviour with my ds and I think some of it gets through. I always pick him up on it as it happens so it's fresh in his mind. Can't be in the classroom though, so that's down to a good teacher to handle well and thus far we've only had one of those We live and learn ... it's just harder when it's our own children that are learning the hard way. It WILL be ok!

Fluffy Hamster - I've just posted something very similar! My DS (8) is exactly the same. In most ways he's a sensible behaved boy, good academically, makes friends etc. But the silliness in his behaviour, whingeing, answering back seems to have increased recently. I'm forever saying stop being silly these days. I try to praise him when he's sensible hoping that will get through and ignore the silliness (though I don't think you can do this all the time). Maybe we can support each other through this phase. I'm hoping its just a phase and seems worse as the girls in his class seem to be quite mature.

My 8 year old boy is very loud. I understand when he is playing with Lego, playmobil etc that he's using his imagination but even if he sits on the Xbox for his allowance time he talks the whole time he is on there. Its continuous and loud. I feel awful trying yo quieten him down all the time because his imagination is good. He also says things over and over again. Although his behaviour is good. I am starting to worry if there is something I should be doing something different with him? Anyone have the same with their 8 year old?

Ladies
Sorry to resurrect an old thread
My son 8 sounds identical,
Just wondering how things are now? Would love some advice?

DS, 7, is like this, but then he's always been like this. I do worry that he still seems at the babyish end of his peers. He's lovely mostly, but it does feel sometimes like he will never grow up - he's got more articulate, but still talks nonsense a lot of the time, though we are having fewer times when he really can't express what he wants to.

Echobelly
That sounds so like my son. I feel he is less articulate than his peers and have always felt like this . I sent him to a speech and language therapist for a n assessment years ago but she found him average, think he is just quieter than his peers so maybe he has practiced less..

DS was assessed by an Ed Psych in Y1 and they suggested he could have 'expressive language' difficulties. I looked this up and it's something they do tend to grow out of - he he has got a bit better but, considering his vocabulary isn't bad, he still finds he hard to describe things, like he has the words, but can't put them together as he wants. He also has very little understanding of maths, although that's improving a bit - but he doesn't seem to really get what it's 'for' or understand that the same rules apply for the same type of question. Though at the same time, the ed psych found he was extremely good at non-verbal reasoning

Should add, DS is also an August baby. We both come from families where everyone's done well at school and not found it a challenge, so I was hoping that might make up for the age thing, but not in his case!

I suffered from glue ear as a child, deafness, poor speech, could cry easily, acted in a silly way, acted very immaturely, did a tiny amount of reading out loud, left school with a reading age of a 6 year old, got a U grade in English CSE. (poor self image, poor self esteem, lacked confidence, self conscious etc) No special needs in those days.

Read out loud age 38 temper and aggressiveness disappeared.
Didn't read to my boys (couldn't) let them watch too much tv, too many computer games, they cried easily, acted immaturely and would fight each other. Teacher lied to me about why they won't read, parent in the playground says get them to read out loud.

Did it every day, for months, crying stopped, immaturity stopped, fighting stopped but argued more. (using words instead of fists)
There's a link between vocabulary and behaviour.

Hope this helps (reading out loud is talking training)

Mines the same. Although we had a tantrum today over homework where we had to put him outside to calm down (nothing to damage/break, open space, not disturbing his sister's nap) and he spent over an hour of it either screaming or acting out for attention.
He ended up losing lunch as we had an appointment to be at and he was given ample time to get ready (he got a late lunch for better behaviour while we were out but has lost all treats), bedtime reduced to 7 until behaviour improves, all gadgets gone.
Seems excessive but the behaviour had gone from bad to worse.
He kept coming to me earlier for attention saying he's bored but I've told him that he's made his bed and he needs to lie in it. He's accepted the consequences but I am at the end of my tether.
I am just looking at the light at the end of the tunnel. A reprieve once he's in bed (He's good at sleeping through) and that he will eventually grow out of it.

Fluffyhampster - this is exactly the same proplem I'm having.... You could be talking about my son. I feel like all I am doing is telling him off or to shut up as the rubbish coming out of his mouth is just unbearable. It's just made up jibberish with toilet humour thrown in and even his friends have kicked him from Fornite parties for acting the goat. He also cannot keep still. He fidgets constantly and is always jumping about. Even just walking along the road he's flinging his arms & legs abouts. We do plenty of activities with him like football, swimming & Cubs to use up his energy but he's still like a durecell bunny with a motor mouth. I'm begining to worry about that there is something g more serious going on here.

Doesn't seem be that unusual. My son is like this and very whiney at the moment. He is shy really and think he does silly talking for sake of talking to
Compensate. Have bought a book about helping confidence and self esteem so hoping that helps. He struggles a bit making general small talk too so think we need to practice that.