Another 7yr old ds nightmare thread

[auberginesrus]

Any ideas appreciated please.

My ds1 age 7 has been having real issues with anger management, particularly at school. Its not that he gets angry all the time just when he does lose his temper he lashes out and often its incredibly inappropriate.

He went through a bad patch about 3 months ago when we had to keep speaking to his teacher, then he seemed to improve.

Today we have had a letter home to say there has been a serious incident and can we arrange to see or speak to his teacher tomorrow (not easy as we both work full time). When questioned he told us that another boy tripped him up so he bit him

Can't tell us why he did it other than he "just did".

Am going to have to ring his school tomorrow and ask his teacher to ring me back, which I am dreading.

And also dh and I are a bit of a loss about how to tackle it at home. He is very bright so we did get him a book about how to manage his anger, and he has read most of it and done some of the exercises (with support) - its sort of CBT based. Thing is he forgets it all in the heat of the moment.

So far his teacher has been really supportive, sending him out of the class to cool down and such like but I am dreading him getting a new teacher next year who may not be so sympathetic.

Is he in the same school next year? If so,his current teacher should easily be able to pass on tips on what best helps your DS.

I also have an angry and bright DS, and although I don't have any great advice to offer right now, just wanted to let you know your DS isn't the only one!

My dd was referred to a 'behaviour support counsellor' by school when she was in yr 1 - she works for the education authority & is trained to work with children who need help with their behaviour in school.

I think it helped her (as did getting older mind you, partly I think she just was slower to develop social skills), maybe it might be worth asking your ds' school if there is something similar in your county?

From dd's description the sessions involved talking through how she reacted in certain situations, and different ways of dealing with things, drawing pictures etc.

I second the late development of social skills....it can be confusing for parents when their DC are sporty and bright.

Well I wouldn't say he was sporty! Thanks for the advice both of you, Takver I will ask his teacher whether there is any counselling available in our area. He is in the same school next year but moves up into juniors. We've been extremely lucky with his teacher this year though as he has (up till now anyway) always seemed to be on DS's side and could understand why he lost his rag even though he didn't condone the behaviour.

I am at my wits end really, as soon as he calms down he knows what he did was wrong.