Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Impulse control and the strong willed child

It is interesting to read about the hunger and sleep needs. DH and I have said since DS was about 2 that it was really easy to miss that he had not eaten (because he's not that kid that says he's hungry) and then realize later that was the reason for behavior problems. He did eat well before the first set of behavior issues yesterday, but it could have been the problem before dinner (which he missed having because he was in his room, reading, after a timeout, bad communication between DH and I, he won't be allowed to miss dinner w/us again). He slept nearly 12 hrs last night, which is about two hrs more than usual. He had slept well the prior night, so there's likely something else going on... growth spurt perhaps.

Weekends and breaks without camps are the worst times. Besides reading, he doesn't really care to do much play on his own (he will from time to time do so, if a flight of imagination catches him). His younger sibling is too "annoying" for consistent play and we can't play/do things with him the whole time. (Younger sibling, on the other hand, is a great one for solitary play.)

We have only really had two mentions of impulse issues outside of normal kid play (ex. throwing water back and forth at each other from water bottles) since we got him out of a bad school environment. One was yelling (full out screaming/meltdown) at a camp counselor who had changed a rule, thereby keeping him from scoring. He apologized then and the next day. The other time he darted across a dirt road at a park to see some animals.