Hello, I have 3 children, the eldest of whom is an 11 year old boy. Recently his behaviour has become quite difficult to deal with - he gives me a really hard time if I don't let him have his way about something, he can be quite rude and unpleasant sometimes. It's got to the point where I hate having to enforce boundaries, or ask him to do something, because I'm dreading the inevitable argument. I believe in dealing with conflict through rational discussion, but just seem to end up shouting half the time. He's also getting into trouble at school for being rude to the teachers, he has a reputation for being 'highly strung' I think, and I feel as though I'm being judged as a bad mother because of the way he's behaving. Particularly as my children have two different dads and I'm a single mother. Any ideas on how to deal positively and effectively with difficult behaviour in older children? Also I'm completely new to this on-line business. What does dc and ds mean?