On his own or one-on-one, he is a quiet sweet kid. But you get him around others and he is a totally different person. He becomes very obnoxious, loud and annoying. He hit my dad on Christmas, not hard or in a mean way, but he thought it was funny. I could see my dad did not think it was funny. This morning his sister asked him to turn the faucet on so she could fill his water bottle, so he did and then he started shaking the faucet being goofy and proceeded to get her and her clothes wet. She cried because she can't stand when her clothes are wet. Another example is when he sees kids he knows or doesn't know, instead of saying hi, he will make weird noises and just act obnoxious. We were at the park last week and he got on the swings next to another kid and a couple of moms pushing their babies. While swinging, he just started hollering and yelling. I made him get off, because if I was the mom next to him, it would have driven me nuts! Is this something that he will eventually grow out of? I have two concerns, the first is that kids will start to not hang around with him because they think he is weird. He is really outgoing and makes friends everywhere he goes. My other concern is maybe is ME! I am not so sure how to handle it. I get very irritated with him because he is always loud and making commotion. If he is home, the house is loud! I did ask him this morning why he does this kind-of stuff and he says he likes to be funny. How do I teach him that he is not being funny or do I just let him figure it out naturally?
Well, he is not reading social cues very well. I would suggest role-playing in situations with him to start teaching him appropriate behavior around other people.
Be sure to praise him when he DOES do good with others... he may be looking for attention, but not really caring or noticing whether it is positive or negative attention.
sounds like a typical 7 year old to me.
I could have written this question myself. My 7 year old sounds just like your son. I have to try hard not to show him how annoyed I am at his behavior, but rather talk to him about it and guide him. It is obnoxious but I don't want him to feel rejected by me. Just keep on teaching and letting him know when he's being inappropriate. I agree that part of it is not reading social cues. But be careful not to label him with a problem. I see lots of 7 year old boys behaving this way. I think it's typical. Good luck
Boys are like this....usually...they are louder and more obnoxious in a nice sort of way. :-) We love them but we have to teach them how to act often. They don't know how to communicate like most girls do and they try to get attention often in the wrong ways. You will have to teach him and don't just get on him all the time but say ' Do you know those boys? Why don't you go over and say 'hi' to them', etc. He'll learn hopefully. I have two 7 year old grandsons. Believe me the sounds they make is amazing. I also had 4 boys of my own compared to their 4 sisters it was night and day. Love him and teach him.
7 year old boys are generally fairly oblivious to the world around them! Sounds pretty typical to me.
O. thing I do is tell my son that he can NOT be disrespectful of us. That results in a grounding. Garden-variety goofiness? Meh. Not that big of a deal.
I think the general goofiness is okay. When he pushes it & is hitting grandpa or going out of his way to torment sister, that is not okay.
Malia has a great suggestion.
I have quiet boys, so not all boys are the same. When my 7 year old gets together with a bunch of friends, it's loud. A couple of the boys don't fit in as well because they are too silly and "in your face." Of course 7 year olds are generally goofy, but even at that age they have their limits.
My son doesn't like to play with kids that are too loud or who get in his face;he knows he has to be nice to everyone, but that doesn't mean he has to encourage friendships with everyone. Other kids seem to feel this way, too.
One way you can help your son is to do what Malia suggested. Role-playing and offerring praise when he gets it right are great! Your son sounds like he has a great personality, he just needs to tone it down a bit. :)
