I wasn't sure how to title this! DS is 5 years old. Going into K this year (has gone to 4K and EC and has some speech/language processing issues). He is a delightful child. Very warm, friendly and empathetic.
Problem? He is very into pretend play. Which is great! However, in recent weeks he decides that something is going to happen and says that he is not pretending.
Example: came to me dressed in two long sleeved shirts - the outer being a sporty looking shirt, his sneakers and his soccer ball. He had packed his new lunch bag with a 1# bag of carrots and 2 cookies. He said that he was going to walk to the bus stop and go to his soccer game and he even packed a snack!! Except that he isn't on a soccer team, there was no soccer game that day and it was about 90 degrees out and dripping humidity. He argues that it's time to go and no amount of attempting to reason with him works. Finally I said fine, let's go to the soccer fields and practice. And we did, he lasted about 10 minutes before saying he was too hot. And we agreed that if he still wants to play soccer next year we will sign him up.
Another example: He comes to me with a toy of his half-wrapped up in paper. Says he has to go to Bryce's birthday party, has his shoes on, etc. Except it isn't Bryce's birthday, we haven't talked to Bryce since school let out and the baby is sleeping. He is literally trying to walk out the door and I can't reason with him. I finally got angry and told him he had to listen to me because I'm the mom and to go sit in the chair.
I feel I did well with the first example and bombed the second. Stuff like this is coming up almost daily where he is *SET* on going/doing something, without talking to me first, and then I can't redirect him or get him to "reason".
Any suggestions??!!? I feel like I'm going crazy trying to deal with this in a gentle way.
Problem? He is very into pretend play. Which is great! However, in recent weeks he decides that something is going to happen and says that he is not pretending.
Example: came to me dressed in two long sleeved shirts - the outer being a sporty looking shirt, his sneakers and his soccer ball. He had packed his new lunch bag with a 1# bag of carrots and 2 cookies. He said that he was going to walk to the bus stop and go to his soccer game and he even packed a snack!! Except that he isn't on a soccer team, there was no soccer game that day and it was about 90 degrees out and dripping humidity. He argues that it's time to go and no amount of attempting to reason with him works. Finally I said fine, let's go to the soccer fields and practice. And we did, he lasted about 10 minutes before saying he was too hot. And we agreed that if he still wants to play soccer next year we will sign him up.
Another example: He comes to me with a toy of his half-wrapped up in paper. Says he has to go to Bryce's birthday party, has his shoes on, etc. Except it isn't Bryce's birthday, we haven't talked to Bryce since school let out and the baby is sleeping. He is literally trying to walk out the door and I can't reason with him. I finally got angry and told him he had to listen to me because I'm the mom and to go sit in the chair.
I feel I did well with the first example and bombed the second. Stuff like this is coming up almost daily where he is *SET* on going/doing something, without talking to me first, and then I can't redirect him or get him to "reason".
Any suggestions??!!? I feel like I'm going crazy trying to deal with this in a gentle way.
