Overwhelmed with my 7 yr old Strong willed son!!

Malissa- I can empathize with you. My son is not as big as yours, but he is very, very strong and when he starts kicking and hitting I have to back off (I’m pregnant and can’t risk being hit).

We just went through this again yesterday. He started hitting his 3 yo brother. His thinking is “well, he made me mad”. He doesn’t have the maturity even at all to understand that this is not a proper response.

I called my “Titus 2 Mentor Mom” yesterday to ask for prayer and help. She encouraged me to always have a consequence in place, and CALMLY dispense it. I’ve definitely learned that the calmer I get, the calmer he will get. There is a bible verse about calmness laying great errors to rest.

I talked softly and calmly, even though I might be boiling over inside…this is only possible with the Lord’s grace! I first sat down and prayed with him (really for him, as he won’t pray on his own), then I calmly told him he’d be copying Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down  is a man who lacks self-control” 10 times. I had always shyed away from doing this, because I didn’t want him to feel like writing Bible verses were a punishment, but my mentor mom encouraged me to try it.

It worked beautifully! The Word of God is truly living and active, and instead of him seeing it as a punishment (although he complained at first), he did do the copying and by the time he was done, he was calm and happy! The rest of the day was wonderful and he was peaceful and helpful.

I think especially with these children, they hate uncertainty, even for punishment.  I’ve found that I really have to make things clear for him, “if you do ______, then ______will happen” .  I told him that everytime he raised a hand to hit anyone, he would be doing the same thing (plus I might add in extra chores, too)

I’m sure others  here will have some good ideas for you. Hang in there! You’re not alone.

HTH,

Nanci

I know you’ve probably been recommended all sorts of books, but maybe not this one:

The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Anger-Practical-Prevention-Children/dp/1879737280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279735926&sr=8-1

It also has a workbook:http://www.amazon.com/Workbook-Heart-Anger-Practical-Prevention/dp/1879737515/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

The used ones are very reasonable. I also want to second the praying over your son, literally with annointing oil if you use it, praying Scripture applied directly to his areas of sin. Praying Blessings into him of G-dly character, even while he’s sleeping, too. Also, the physical activity (mini-tramp, etc) interspersed within the school lessons. Scripture memory specifically related to his areas of weakness; the Word can’t change a heart until it gets into the heart throughmemorization and the Power of G-d’s Spirit.

Also, if your husband hasn’t reinforced your authority to him recently, I think it makes a difference. The little boys (and big ones) need to know that you have Dad’s support and whatever he can do when he’s home is vital to take some of the pressure/burden off of you, besides, boys need a firmer, manly hand at certain times in their lives.

Rachel

Hi tenacal and everyone,

Thank you for your insight. 🙂 You are so right. Tenacal, I do need to incorporate more sensory issues stuff into his day. I will check out the website you referred to. Thank you for the idea. Thank you all for your ideas in fact. I am working on my schedule for the year (just a skeleton mind you, I need to modify the schedule that we used last year since we are going full blown CM this year). I do plan on keeping the lessons short and simple. I am praying that we will have a much more  successful school year than we’ve had in previous years. So far, school has been pretty draining with the kids not making much progress each year. Talk to  you soon! Thank you everyone!