My 7 (well, he will be 7 in a few weeks) year old son is really emotional and I was wondering if you all had any insight as to whether this is normal behavior or something I should be worried about. I say emotional, I guess I could also say he is very sensitive both physically and emotionally. He is the kid who will scream when he gets water in his eyes and his socks bug him if they aren't on his feet exactly right. He also gets really apologetic when he does something wrong, which I think is partially my fault because I can be the same way but if, say, he spills his water on the floor he will say, "I'm sooo sorry!" like 10 times to the point where I have to tell him not to do it anymore. Also, lately he has been telling me that he cries himself to sleep at night. I ask him why he is crying and he says he doesn't know, that he just feels sad. Of course I told him that it is okay to feel sad and cry, but I am kind of worried that maybe something more serious is going on. In the past year we have been through a lot of changes, we moved, I got pregnant and had a baby, my SO and I got married, and he has essentially stopped seeing his bio dad. So I dk if that has anything to do with it. Or maybe I am just looking into this too much and he is just a sensitive kid.
Wow, you are describing things very similar to our situation when bio-Dad decided to come into our son's life after almost 9 years of nothing. He didn't even meet his BD until just before his 9th birthday.
We are still working on the "sorry"s, almost 3 years later, but with extensive counseling, acupuncture, vitamin and herbal supplements and now a behavioral specialist he's gotten a lot better.
My son got to the point where if anyone looked at him strange or talked to him who doesn't normally talk to him, he would run away and cry. If he didn't get absolutely perfect on his exams he would burst out in class and start crying. He was having horrible nightmares and was coming home from school with migraines and stomach upsets.
The counselor said it was separation anxiety (from having a large part of our family time taken away) and he was boarder line PTSD (from having his BD just show up and take no interest in what is going on with his son outside of BD's own interests: festivals, music, festivals, and music).
We still struggle a lot with BD issues and the behaviors associated with now having a Parenting Plan but things have gotten a lot better with these therapies.
I hope that your situation doesn't get this severe. I would give him some time and as much closeness as he wants.
I hope your little guy finds some peace soon.
Take Care!
My lil miss has the same issues sometimes. I'd make sure to talk things out as much as possible and maybe connect with the school conselor if counseling isn't something available to you outside of that relm.
Transitions are really hard on kids, it makes sense that he is having a tough time. I think continuing to talk to him and show him that some things in life, like your love, are constant will help. I think a lot of kids go through a mini-puberty around that age, things get funky for a bit and then they clear up.
Thanks :) yes I have decided when school starts again to see about getting him some counseling. He does have trouble focusing on stuff too so I think that might help. I also am going to try and have a dedicated mama and E outing once every few weeks and leave the baby with my mom or SO. With all the changes taking place I realized we haven't had an outing just the two of us for a while!
I would be most worried about him saying that he is crying himself to sleep at night. Something is triggering that sadness in him, and at 7 years old, its near impossible for him to understand what that trigger is. Some people just really, really struggle with change, as well. He may be one of those people.
Counseling, and giving him one on one time are all bang on ideas.
My son started acting out and bed-wetting when his brother was born. The bed-wetting stopped. The acting out, not so much.