My now almost 8 year old son has a severe problem with violence when he gets angry. we've been seeing a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist for more than a year now. he has been on and off medication and has been diagnosed with everything from adhd, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and now an explosive aggressive disorder. we recently spent a day at a local bowling alley for a fun day and when he thought another child had lied to him, he punched him in the stomache( this child had also just had his apendix out a week and a half before. at the mention of a time out, he blew up, began
screaming, punching kids, punching and head butting me....I held his hands behind his back so he wouldn't hurt anyone, the other kids put our things away and I let him go and started
walking out. when he realized this he began chasing me but with the added twist of kicking and punching me in the back as I was carrying my 1year old.(Please not there were tons of other kids at this event) so I grabbed onto his shoulders and walken him out of the bowling alley and to my van.... as I reach my van I let him go so I can unlock the doors for the other 4 children to get in and he starts smacking me in the back of the head with his shoes, I'm still holding my baby. so i pull him to the ground and use my knee to hold him down on the ground so he stops hitting me and he won't hurt his sister either....As I am unlocking the door and he is
screaming at me and trying still to hurt me, i hear a woman say "Oh MY GOD" and she storms in my direction. I try to tell her that I'm not hurting him, I'm only trying to hold him down so he won't hurt anyone else. She
screaming at me in front of all these people and the kids in my van that I'm abusing my child and she took down my license and is reporting me.....ON getting home, I called my son's therapist and he told me I should have called the police on my son the moment he started hitting ....has anyone done this???? but the next day at our appointment, he informs me that I'm a pushover and If it would have been his child...he would have "laid him flat" the first time he was hit... I was nowhere near laying him flat and someone wanted to report me.....How could you possibly "lay him flat" His new suggestion is to "Dope him up, so he can't hurt You, or anyone else" or, "Call his dad and TELL him he has to take him for the summer" My son has lived with me since the day he was born....except everyother weekend. I choose to let him go...over being DOPED! but now I am heartbroken and extremely depressed to know my son won't be at home sleeping in his bed everynight and that his baby sister won't see him much. Now that I see there are other parents out there with similar problems.....I just want to know what your thoughts are. I love my family and friends, but they really don't understand what it's like......Please someone HELP ME:(
Posted on 06/27/08, 10:06 am
I have NEVER felt that physical punishment is the way to go, expecially when they have such violent behavior to begin with. I am sorry that you have had to go through this. I know a woman who has been in a situation like yours and she actually sent her son to a facility that delt with his issues and he has now come back into the home and is a different child. I hope that things get better and I will send a prayer for you. 
