Once well behaved 6 year old now pushing boundries

[5inthebed]

I need some advice.

I'm at the end of my tether with my 6 year old DS1. He has always been well behaved, did everything I asked, obeyed the "house rules", polite, I could never say he was a handful because he wasn't. For the past 8 weeks or so he has really been pushing boundries. Winding his brothers up, doing things he knows that annoy me, when we are out and about he carries on like a toddler and answering back all the time.

Is this just normal 6 year old behaviour? Please tell me it's just a phase.

I feel like putting him on the naughty step. He is currently in his room after a long day of him misbehaving, the last incident being him knocking ds3 (14 months) to the ground because he was in his way.

Oooo we had/have the same with ds as well.

Exactly one yr ago (he was then 6 and a half) he went through a stage of being very unpleasant with us and his sister. He was quite rude and over emotional. He also struggled to fall asleep and was full of anxiety.
With ds I think it was mostly his way of adapting to primary school and a later reaction to the changes he had to deal with in the last 2 yrs (we moved back to Italy at the end of 2007, primary school starts later here).

There was also some mild bulling going on in his class, all the boys were concerned at different levels. The teachers acted pretty quickly and things settled.

Have you talked to his teacher? Has his school work load got heavier?

What we did with ds: we kept being very firm on some issues, but I tried to be even more affectionate than usual, and he started to open up about his anxieties which regarded school and his relationship with other little boys.

I'm not sure he has any problems at school, the teachers ahven't mentioned anything, but I will ask.

I often feel like he gets pushed out a bit as DS2 has SN and takes up a lot of my time, as does DS3. Maybe it's just rebelion against that.

Will do as you've suggested though and give him a bit of ott praise.

Thanks.

Oh yes, he might be feeling a bit left out and trying to get more of your attention.

I really think my ds has changed in the last yr... he is still very sweet and affectionate, but he has certainly become louder, more lively, and keener to testing the boundaries... Maybe it's the hormones?

to test