Feelings...

Oliver has been having some frustrations lately. I think we really started to pay attention to it after his melt down at his last fencing class when he didn't win. We've have been trying to figure out the best way to handle these outbursts. Jerimy's been reading the "love and logic" book and I'm reading "how to talk so your kids will listen and listen so your kids will talk". Both have been helpful but it's still tough. 

With these newer skills in mind, it's been slowly getting better. He's learning that his nasty words can't be used to get his way. BUT he's been saying some pretty hurtful things. Example:

"I hate you... I-h-a-t-e y-o-u" (cause saying it wasn't hurtful enough he felt he needed to spell it out loud for me) Also "I don't care if you had your head off!" And "you're being so mean to me- you owe me ten dollars!"

When he says these things we're trying to listen without reacting too much- ignoring the hurtful words as best as we could to not feed into his anger and become angry ourselves. I think he just wants to vent his feelings and I can't really blame him- I think if more people listened to me I'd vent all of mine in a heartbeat. He's been writting his feeling down as well- mostly to try to hurt us, but I think it might be healthy for him to know he can vent and that we still love him anyway.

"Daddy you ruined my day"

 Lets just hope we can continue to be loving and listen. It's so much nicer than to always be stressed and angry because of his attitude.