I don't subscribe to the stereotype of only children...however, mine fits it exactly

[Pruners]

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I put my ds in my profile pics - after Morty, have a look!

Aw, you know the old chestnut about all behaviours being on a sliding scale .
OK, so your ds is maybe more egocentric and assertive than the norm, and it makes him harder work. I sympathise totally, dd is the Queen of Mean and indulged horribly by my parents, who cannot accept that she is not a meek and cowed little girl as me and dsis both were . Although after some of her recent utterances the penny is starting to drop.
I have found that challenging her not so much on what she says but how she says it is helping me deal with dd's shoutier moments.
So, getting her to moderate and rephrase her demands IS helping her to understand that while she is allowed to labour under the illusion that we are all her retinue, and voice those feelings, she will not get any kind of result until she eases off on the bossiness and lack of courtesy.
"Speak as you'd wish to be spoken to" is also working lately. Your bright little spark is surely on the threshold of being able to deal with this concept too.

ah pruni I agree with the others. it is his age, it is his personality. it will pass then something else will come along to replace it.
he really is a delightful little boy, he is just challenging and sparky. a friend of mine once said "dd1 will grow into that personality" and I think that is quite comforting

ah, i see my dd's 2 role models, mini-frogs & mini-marina are on this thread . hope you feel better soon pruni, he sounds like a fab little boy.

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It's his age ,and obvs his personality! nothing to do with being an only,lots and lots of children don't have siblings at this age do they? You could easily have said that he is really reserved ,won't mix with others etc,is it cos he is an only? Or my ds is 4,I have a 3yr old and a new born and he demands my attention,won't do anything by himself,is bossy-do you think he doesn't get enough one-to-one? It really isn't because he does or does not have siblings,he sounds like hundreds of other children!Some people have strong personalities, some don't,also,if he is bright and coherent then these type of kids do seem to appear to always be th eboss but often it's just that they are more able to verbalise stuff tahn others.As long as you don't always let him get his way,which obvs you don't,he will learn,plus somewhere along the way he will meet others who are bossier than him!!He sounds fine to me.Count yourself lucky,one of my friends has THREE who all have this personality type!!!!

3.8 is very little. Honestly he will get easier most of the time. My son is an only child and at five and half years old still wants his way.

I think its reasonable to still help him play/ tidy/ dress. There is a difference between helping him and doing it for him. As for the playing what interests him.

My son loves playing with small world toys like his castle, dragons or plastic animals. If I set the scene and play with him for 10 minutes I can often withdraw gradually and let him amuse himself.

The other thing you could do is make friends with another family with an only child. Then you can "borrow" the child by inviting them round to play. Its great, it has some of the advantages of having a sibling, but you can return the child when everyone has had enough of each other.

As far as having another child. Somethings were just not meant to be. I would like another but I don't think its going to happen.

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That's not only children, that is largely eldest child syndrome.

Pruners, MI did not invent the term 'threenager' for nothinng, you know! they become terribly imperious around this time.

I have just returned from 3 weeks away with only-child DS and came back paranoid that he was finally living up to an only-child stereotype, (so far avoided, including Cod's experiences,) but a quick peek at MN over the last couple of days has put it back into perspective - it's personality and age, they all have traits which make you worry or drive you potty. My current fear is that DS is developing int a neurotic over-emotional drama queen. But I bet several parents of just-turned-6's will say 'mine is exactly like that!'

So...what to do about the tendencies? Being v verbal is good - encourage. Just try toset a good example re interrupting and making little rules about waiting until no one else is speaking before starting. The bossing others will sort itself out - although you could talk to him about letting people make thier own decisions, and do a little bit with him, coach himn to use questions like 'what would you like to play?' etc. tell him it's sometimes more interesting to try out someone else's game because that would be a surprise. Walk away and totally ignore him while he is screraming. Tell him calmly and plaesantly that you like to talk to people who talk nicely to you and you don't listen to screaming because your ears hurt.

It'll all come out in the wash.