Child who blames everybody else

[WitsEndAlways]

It’s one behaviour of many and I’m at my wits end. He is 8. When denied something (usually screen related) he has a violent tantrum like a toddler. The worst of it is, he blames us for all his behaviour. He is bright and articulate. I’ve bought ‘the explosive child.’

Friends of ours were having same issue with their 9 year old ds. They’ve banned screens in the week, and he’s only allowed on in the afternoon at weekends. Weekend mornings they have him out doing sports, he gets the screen after lunch for a couple of hours if his behaviour has been good.

Blaming everyone else is a symptom of ADHD. Combined with the rest of his behaviour…….

My dd blamed everyone else. She was late diagnosed at 17. After 2 years of school refusal. Don’t leave it too late or ignore it.

I have ADHD and was nothing like this - as was (and is) my eldest daughter. But ADHD can present very differently in different children. What sprang to my mind was ODD or PDA, which might be worth reading up on, OP.

I feel a little like you're trying to hint for us all to say he's ASD/AudHD/ADHD. Is this what you are suspecting?

er no, not at all. It’s just his behaviour I want to think about how manage and to help him. I have never thought he has anything like that

This school term I've removed tablet/Switch time during the week entirely for my 7 and 9 year old, as well as no computer based YouTube videos on the tv. I felt so bored constantly having to monitor whether they'd both had x amount of time, who had 2 minutes more than the other etc. It wasn't worth it and wasn't bringing anything good to their lives. They can still watch tv. I explained it to them fully, they were surprisingly OK with it. They get plenty of time on their devices on the weekend.

@BlueRaincoat1that’s a good idea. He seems incapable of thinking of anything else to do even though he’s a good reader, likes Lego. I think I’ll need to be prescriptive and is in “let’s do this now”

At a similar age, possibly a bit younger, we had to do "if it isn't put away nicely when asked, it won't be available tomorrow." It worked pretty quickly , as we stuck rigidly to it, so he knew no amount of begging would get it back.