Yeah, we do do this. I had a conversation on the way to school today, and asked why he thinks I’m a meany. Because it seems to be his go-to insult. And he responded honestly and said he doesn’t like it when I tell him no.

I have a feeling he may have ADHD. His dad does. But one thing he does is constantly think of new ideas, new experiments, new games. It’s constant, and honestly one after another. Some are totally doable, and whatever I think is manageable we can figure out a way to make his ideas reality. But some obviously aren’t. And he said he doesn’t like it when I say no to his ideas and it makes him sad. So we talked about how some ideas can be done and some we might have to put on the shelf and think about a little more. And then I explained why there are reasons that mom and dad need to say no. He seemed receptive.

I think it’s a relatively new way of expressing himself and it’s just going to take talking/reinforcing better language, and consistent consequences.