children who disagree with everything you and everyone else says...

[brimfull]

my very good friend's 5 yr old ds is like this.

It is very hard not to want to dislike him because of this .

His mum finds it really difficult.

I have him here a lot,him and ds argue ,the usual mine's bigger then yours stuff so that I ignore.

Does anyone else have a child like this?

It is his personality I think so may not change.I am likely to know him for yrs.

How do I stop myself from
a.hating him
b.losing my temper with him

This is very very normal unfortunately, DS and his peers at school never seem to agree with each other about anything and are uber competitive. As their social skills improve it WILL change but it may be a while yet I'm afraid! I think you're right to ignore it as far as possible.

Is he disagreeing with you as well? Can you give an example?

It is common. My daughter had a friend who, at that age, was just the same. He came to our house once and I asked him if he'd like to play Meccano (pronounced MecARno). He rudely said he didn't and 'anyway' it wasn't called that it was called MecCANo.

Oh. OK.

He has mellowed over the years.

Is his mum constantly criticising him / telling him what not to do.....? my mum was very much like this and as a result I am like this with her. Just the thought!

Sorry I haven't had a chance to get back to this.

Honoriaglossop-he disagrees with me ,that's what I am having a problem with.I'm not bothered about his disagreements with pther children ,tiresome as it is though.

Even if you said something that you would think no one would have a dispute with at all he will disagree with it.

Me: "hey xxx how about I take you to a sweetie shop and you can buy whatever you want !"

xxx: "I want to go to another shop and get something different I don't want sweeties"

Me: "oh ,ok then ,what would you like to buy?"

xxx:"I want (insert name of ridiculously £££ toy"

Purely hypothetical of course,I am not in the habit of being such a mug ,but you get the drift.

Hmm, it is slightly unusual to come accross a child who will argue with grown ups (who aren't his parents) isn't it!

i think you may be able to deal with it by just engaging with him a bit less, like in your hypothetical example when he replies "I want to go to another shop and get something different" You could just stop him in his tracks with "Oh well if you don't want sweeties that's fine". Don't get into negotiations, and let him realise that his oppositional reaction is actually losing him treats etc!

Yes he is quite different.

His mum dies of embarrassment when he does it to others.

He also doesn't bother answering sometimes which is equally irritating.

Both parents are so lovely I have decided he is like his grandmother who is a contrary bitch.

Are you sure he always hears the questions.
DS is 5 and sometimes is so in his own little world that he doesn't hear what we are saying to him.