Thursday, July 28, 2011

Garbonzo

Argh.  In the last two weeks Garbonzo has . . .
  • stolen a key from the lab and blithely feigned innocence during the ensuing hub-bub of "Where's the key?".  Of course, it was in his pocket.
  • stolen pocketfuls of candy from his Gma, and blithely feigned innocence even after the pat-down and discovery.
  • talked his sister into a cheating co-op wherein one steals the teacher books and copies the answers whilst the other posts look-out, and blithely feigned innocence even after her confession.
  • smuggled off-limits treats out of the house and into his lunchbox.
  • locked little kids in the bathroom stalls and threatened to to harm them if they told.
  • told us a chore/task has been done when it most obviously has not been done.  This occurs 15-20 times a day. 
  • lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. 
We are definitely seeing a pattern.   This nasty behavior tends to appear after any of the fun summer activities.  Day camp, VBS, drama camp, etc.  Anything in which a large group of kids are under the supervision of a few adults (aka anything away from Mom) triggers orphanage behavior patterns.  We can see it.  It all makes sense.  But how do we make it go away?
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2 comments:

  1. RondaAugust 11, 2011 at 9:53 AM

    So nice to see you blogging again about the kids. We have the same pattern of behavior with Alexander. I hadn't noticed until you pointed it out but it is worse when he has been in group situations.

    We are using a combination of extra lap time and cuddles (he is 6) mixed with negative consequences and pre-event conversations about lying and stealing. So far we seem to be making headway. It is odd to hear your child say in a very happy voice, "Momma, I didn't steal anything today!" Headway, I think.

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  2. RondaAugust 11, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    One more thing I forgot. We have done work with a kineasiologist on cross brain patterning. According to A's therapist there is a problem with the lizard brain or amygdala taking control at this age. His cognitive brain has trouble controlling his impulses. Cross crawls, exercises with one hand and opposing foot, etc. increase the communication between right and left brain and increase control over the amygdala. It seems to have had the greatest effect in helping him control his impulse to steal.

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Thank you so much. I really appreciate comments.

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