Smething that has worked extremely well for us is "Ground Hog Day". Or a Mulligan as many refer to it. Because my son is so emotionally explosive, often times the reaction comes long before any rational thought.
If he does something wrong or explodes without thought we start over, completely over. This might mean picking the spilled trash up yourself, bringing it back in the house and asking your son to take out the trash as if it didn't just happen. I've actually put my son back in bed and started over when the morning starts horribly. You have to pretend that whatever happened previously didn't! It sounds a little weird and in the beginning it seemed as if we spent a large portion of the day on Mulligans. But it works well for us and we don't have to use them to much any more. The best thing has been my son's recognition of situations quickly getting out of hand. He'll stop, ask for a "do over" on his own and the escalation stops. It has helped him to recognize that he creates situations and he, himself can correct them. Try it!
Last edited by BWBShari; 08/19/10 07:46 AM.
