Naughty six year old, please save my sanity!

yalisrib

I'm a teacher and I can honestly say EVERY child I have ever had has gone through a phase of 'arrrrgh!!!-ness'. For some kids the phase may last a week, for others a year but there is always a reason behind it. Short of tying him to a chair and forcing him to talk, there is little you can do to get him to open up if he doesn't want to, but the first thing to do is make him trust you so if he does want to talk, he knows he can come to you. Spending 1 on 1 time with him could help with this - once a week/fortnight have a mom and son or dad and son day where his annoying pain of a sister doesn't hog all the limelight (probably his thoughts, not mine). He may also see you as one of the enemy as you are at his school, so when he is around try not to talk to other staff about him when he is present.

I recently had a child leave who I had been teaching for 2 years and when I started he was a little !!!!!! - hair pulling, fighting, snatching... so I came down on the whole class like a tonne of bricks - for most stuff they got 3 warnings, if they did it again then 'reflection time', loss of a privelege etc. If is was a serious offence such as violence then it was immediate sanction. It worked wonders on the whole room and several parents noticed improvements at home too. Maybe sit down as a family and together write a list of rules ALL of you will follow and what happens if you do/do not follow them and make sure you follow it through every time - also make sure he sees his sister being diciplined in the same way he is for the same offence so he doen't feel he is being picked on.

If all else fails, ring Supernanny!

P.S we are not allowed to say 'naughty' anymore as it apparently is used to describe the child rather than the behaviour - if OFSTED hear you say that, all hell will break loose! :eek: