My 4 year old soon to be 5 year old DS is really struggling with his emotions and it's causing him to behave in negative ways at home and at school.
It started this time last year about 7 months after undergoing surgery for glue ear, his voice and hearing dramatically improved however his communication skills have taken a knocking however academically he's where he should be.
We've also had a lot of changes we've moved twice since he was born and we also had our dd in August who he adores. His behaviour has improved at home I would say since she came but some days he's very hard work.
Some days he will just seem to do things to annoy me and DH like intentionally do and say things for a reaction. Everything on bad days is hard work, if u ask him to do anything like put shoes on he will whinge. Even when we are going out somewhere for him he will behave badly, whinge and spoil the day out by being rude. He interrupts adult conversations if they're not about him and will walk off or attention seek. At school we've been called into the head twice for poor behaviour including throwing things when he hasn't got his way with the teacher.
We remove toys and ban tv as punishment and he has to earn them back but it starts again once he's earned them back. It's really getting me down.
On good days he is wonderful, he will be the sweetest most caring and fun child. All our neighbours think he's fab. (A lot are elderly and he brightens up their day) he makes me so proud and stranger comment on how well behaved he is.
How do I bring out the better side of him. Of course it's normal for him to have bad days but not to the extent of being told off at school. I've tried the 'magic box' which is an imaginary box to put his angry feelings in to throw away ( so he has time to calm down and think about how he reacts to others) I also got a book called 'how am I feeling today?' To get him to open up more. I'm very conscious of giving him a lot of praise when he does well and not raising my voice when he's being silly but it's so draining some days.
Sorry for the long post but I'd appreciate any advice on how to guide him to better choices.