What on earth do I do about 6yr old acting like a baby?

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

My son is a very immature 6yr old (teachers and my words) I am at a bit of a loss what to do about his really babyish, attention seeking behaviour. It is begining to rub off on his 4yr old brother.

An example is singing songs with a pronounced 'put on' lisp and changing the words i.e 'thumpy thumpty that thon the thall...'

Holding out his arms and saying 'mama mama' when he wants me.

Obviously put on crying over pretty much everything.

rubbing his face/hands all over me.

DO I ignore which takes every ounce of patience I have or do I punish?

It is getting so much harder now DS2 is doing it to.

He is a lot better at school but is still quite immature, he has a life time illness and is quite behind at school and is in a classroom with children 1 - 2 years younger than him.

Advice please?

Could you walk away when he does it? That way it will not try your patience quite so much as you wouldn't have to see it/hear it?

Or a different tact - maybe state some ground rules at breakfast. Make it clear that you don't like baby talk and baby behaviour but you really like talking to him in his normal voice and playing together when he's not being a baby.

Could you set aside 15 minutes in the morning where you play lego, read a book, have a cuddle? If he slips back into babyness, remind him gently that you love playing with him when he's being himself because you love him as he is, and you're gald he's not a baby anymore.

Is he confused about being in a class with much younger children? Perhaps he's feeling insecure about that - he might feel that he is supposed to behave in a much more mature way than he can manage. Are the teacher's expectations of him too high perhaps? Is he constantly being reminded that he's the eldest in the class and so therefore should know better - if so that'll be very tough emotionally on him and make him feel that he is failing, which would be very unfair.

Why is he in a class with such younger children, if you don't mind me asking?

I would avoid putting any emphasis on him being a big boy, but emphasise that you always love him no matter what, but you find him much more fun and enjoy spending time with him when he's being himself rather than being a baby.

Can he explain himself why he's doing this?

Only just seen this, thanks PunkDog.

DS has Cystic Fibrosis and misses quite a lot of school, his fine motor skills were realy lacking and he was quite behind so although he moved up to year 1 he stayed in the reception class room so he could get some more one on one support, he has improved so much with this and is catching up slowly.

He says he doesn't know what the baby behaviour is about, I think its attention as it gets noticably worse when people come round in a showing off kind of way.

He is ok at school its just home we have the problem and when he is out and about with me, he seems dead set on winding people up. He will walk a pace behind us and kick the back of our legs on purpous or make sure he is a few paces ahead of his brother so he can taunt him with 'Im winning'

I will try what you have suggested, mornings are hard to fit things in due to the sheer amount of medication and physio we have to squeeze in.

I do always make sure to tell him when he is behaving well.

Do you ever join in? Play that he really is a baby?

DD (also 6) likes to pretend to be a baby or toddler a lot. I find it irritating when she talks in a baby voice but actually she has something I need to hear quickly because we are getting ready for school. Another GRRR is when she 'needs' a cuddle in my lap in the middle of a meal.

I find that playing baby with her means I can ask her to be grown up at other times.
You can also reverse the roles so you are the baby and he mother or fathers you. And of course when the game is over, say something about how great it is he is really 6 which means you can watch Star Wars (or whatever) together because real babies don't get to have that kind of fun.