It breaks my heart when my son says this. I am trying so hard with him. There are only two of us so the relationship is fairly intense especially over the summer break as I don't work then.
He is a sensitive and boisterous boy of 8. He can behave badly when we are out and about and when I reprimand him he is so sensitive and distraught. He is often touching things of attempting unsafe moves in the park so they are not things I can make light of or ignore. During the holidays we have been going to parks, having a friend over to play occasionally, going to the odd museum, swimming, etc
When I am home it is a constant struggle to limit his ipad time. I have limited it to an hour 3 days a week but when the hour is up (and I always give him amble warning) it is a constant battle. Not only that he loves those games which involve going up levels for jumping over obstacles and his frustration is palpable when things go wrong. The other area of contention is the TV. He is allowed to watch it in the evening and occasionally during the day but as with the Ipad getting him off is a struggle.
Ironically he wants to be with me alot of the time. When I have had appointments and adult type commitments over the holidays he has refused to go to a friend's place.
He has struggled slightly at school and I have been some simple writing exercises with him but that too has evolved into a daily arguement.
I have explained to him that I would not need to growl at him if he behaved sensibly when we are out and about, We talked about ipad times etc and agreed on reasonable times he can use it.