Things are going very well!

I wanted to say there is something to this GBD. I had been riding the punitive-permissive swing for far too long. DS hasn't fully trusted things are better now, but the time between a meltdown and actually calming down and apologizing is much shorter. Here is how a situation tonight went:

DS came to me and asked if I wanted to play 2-player on one of his Kirby DS games. I said that would be great, since I was waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Well, let's just say I'm not as savvy at video games as kids these days. He got very angry that I was "so terrible at the game". I told him that I realized I was awful at it and that I needed to take a break to check on dinner. He proceeded to make his "mean face" at me, throw a piece of paper on the floor and started shouting that I would not leave. I said, "I can see your game has made you very angry. Why don't I come back when you have calmed down and we can talk about it then?"

It wasn't five minutes later he came into the kitchen and said, "I'm really sorry. I just get so mad at my video games sometimes". So we talked about how he feels inside when he starts getting angry and I told him how he should stop playing and take a break when his games stop being fun for him. He told me I was the best mom in the whole world. We hugged and everything was fine the rest of the evening, even during dinner time which is usually when he starts to act out.

That is wonderful!

[MercyInDisguise]

Good to hear!