Hi, thanks for all the opinions, I guess the main thing I'd be worried about is not 'engaging' if he really needs me to engage.
The social workers are all about letting the child feel his emotions, and accept them. 'Not engaging' seems to directly contradict that, maybe I am misunderstanding, though.
I do want ds to be able to say, 'today sucked', or 'I'm really really mad, because I'm embarrased/things are unfair, etc.', or whatever he needs to.
I do not want a child who is turning himself and the family inside out, 'feeling' sad because it gets him what he wants.
So, while we're working on finding that line, we've decided to try for a lot more exercise. We've just been taking it way too easy this summer (here and there, anyway), me included. He's back in camp this week for the next couple of weeks, dh and he had a big hike Sat., and I got everyone out on bikes Sun., so I'm trying to just keep this ball rolling. I could be wrong about how much this helps, but so far, a much more even keel around here.
