Crazy 7 yr old

[coastergal]

Help I'm still traumatised! My friend just came for lunch with her 7 yr old son. We have a 5 yr old girl so are used to having children at house for play dates, including boys. We have nephews and other friends with boys but this lads behaviour just seemed extreme! He was tearing round the house going in every room dismantling stuff and breaking stuff, he totally ignored the odd request we made like "please don't touch that and don't go in that room" and actually totally ignored me every time I spoke. Kept saying he was really bored and the food was disgusting! I'm totally exhausted! At one point he screamed in my face cos I wasn't finding his favourite tv show quick enough! Is this normal???? My friend and her DH did tell him off every now and again but he really didn't seem to care or listen to what they said! I feel awful as I think they picked up on vibes that we thought he was a pain in the arse (especially from my DH) and I don't want it to effect our friendship... is it normal for a 7 yr old boy to behave like that in someone else's house?

Perhaps. I had a little girl round once for a play date who was 5 and she ran round the house and managed to make all the picture frames askew, then she took all the stones from the potted plants and threw them round our living room whilst I was in the kitchen. She had four younger brothers so I think she was just used to running about, I had her round another time for a party which included activities and more children (previously it was just my two DDs to play with) and she was much better. Perhaps just needs to be entertained with organised activities?

There's no way I'd allow my boys to get away with that, either at home or at anyone else's house.

Actually I agree with bluechampagne and say it is a parental issue as they should be looking after their child and not allowing him to wreck someone else's house.