[racheepoo]

Originally Posted by ashersmom

Asher is 4 years, 10 months and will not listen to directions about 80% of the time. I am so tired of making it happen. At times as soon as he sees me or dh headed his way to make it happen he will hop to but I am so tired of playing that game.

Getting in the car. I expect him to get in the car and get as buckled as he can while I am putting Eli in. He actually does this about 10% of the time. I then have to herd him towards his seat.

Today he would not stop picking at me until I told him I wanted to spank him. I wasn't going to and he knows that. However, the threat is the only thing that stopped him.

We were supposed to have a me and him date today but I am not going out with a child who chooses not to listen.

It's truly like he's decided he doesn't have to follow directions. He is dye-free. I'm eliminating caramel coloring right now. I am pretty sure there are no other sensitives.

We are buying a house and moving next week. That could be playing into it. We've all been sick for the past three weeks, just passed it around. He's currently healthy. He is at school three days a week for three hours at a time.

This actually allll sounds like attention getting behavior to me. With the stress of the house hunt and now the move, plus little brother getting more attention because he's little and needs more hands on attention, it could be that Asher needs more focused time with you. I'm wondering...is there a way you can make him super special right now, just something Asher does that Eli doesn't do, or a special plate at dinner, etc?

Sometimes kids have big anxiety over moving--it's one of the top stressors for adults! and he's not going to be able to say "actually mom, i have all sorts of anxiety right now and am seeking attention, even negative attention, because i know i'm safe when you give it to me."

There are some kids books on moving, too, that you might consider reading to him. I've been extremely surprised by the level of detail pill remembers from our first house (when he was 18 mos old) and the moving out process that was not smooth or in any way stress-free.