My son is an only child and he and I have always had a great relationship. For a while from age 5-6 reasoning with him was a brilliant way to get him to behave. I'd explain consequences of his actions or whatever and he usually chose to do the right thing. He could talk about things to us and generally all was ok. Cut to now and he's like a small teenager. Explaining things doesn't work I've had to resort to threatening to take away screens to get him to not be a total asshole to be honest. He speaks back to me. He shouts. Then for some part of every day he's his usual self. Today my husband wanted to take him to the park and he said he didn't want to go (unusual) and that he needed space. We gave him space for a while but he was just sitting on his own crying for seemingly no reason but obviously there was a reason we just couldn't figure out what. Maybe he doesn't know himself. He's asked to watch the film Inside Out a lot lately and I think he's using it to process some feelings. I want to help him out but I have no idea how other than just being available for him. Is this a normal development phase or is this because of lockdown maybe? I also have been significantly unwell recently so he might have picked up on that, but his behaviour has gotten worse as I've gotten a bit better.
Any ideas? Thoughts or tips appreciated. He's my first and only child so unsure what to make of it. Thanks!