Mean, Cruel, and Horrible

I think I have just won an award for being a bad mother. We've been struggling lately with Zachary's behavior, particularly the way he treats me. He yells, calls me names, covers his ears when I talk to him, or tells me no. What's scary is that he can switch from being a sweet, lovable little boy into a monster in about 2 seconds flat.

Today started out just fine. He was happy when he woke up, came and snuggled in bed with me, and was so excited that he had discovered his first loose tooth. He knew that he had been invited to play with a friend today, and was really looking forward to that. We went to swim lessons, and he did a great job. He swam across the pool by himself, and told the teacher that he wanted to make her proud. We came home, he took a shower, got dressed, then came downstairs to ask me when he was going to go to his friend's house. I informed him that I had just talked to his friend's mother, and we were going to go to a pool with them at 12:30, so we should probably have lunch.

At that instant, he was displeased, because he wanted to go and play at the friend's house, not go to the pool. I explained that the invitation was for swimming and not playing at the house, and we were not going to call his friend and ask to do that instead. He started screaming and throwing a royal fit, and telling me how horrible I am for not letting him play at his friend's house. Then, he demanded his lunch, and covered his ears when I tried to explain that he could choose to calm down and eat, or go to his room. I told him that I was not going to allow him to talk to me that way, and I was not going to reward his rude behavior by letting him go and have fun with a friend. Zach then went and started bouncing on the couch and screaming at me, and I somehow got him to go upstairs, where he continued screaming insults at me. In the meantime, I called his daddy for a second opinion, and we decided that, no matter how much he started sucking up, there was no way he was going to go and do anything fun this afternoon. I locked myself in the bathroom, talked to the friend's mom and explained the situation, and prepared for round two.

Darren called to check and see how things were going (no better), and Zachary came downstairs to fight some more. He laid on the couch and yelled that he wanted to do something fun for about ten minutes, and I calmly left the room. When he realized that he no longer had an audience, he turned down his volume a bit, but didn't stop yelling and crying. I explained to him that we were both being punished by his bad behavior, and that maybe next time he would choose to be nice and not treat me poorly. He started screaming at me again, so I walked out again.

I heard the door to the garage open, and when I went to investigate, Zach informed me that he was going outside to ride his scooter. I told him that he was not going outside, because riding the scooter is fun. He ran upstairs, where he still is, and I can still hear him crying. It's going to be a LOOONNNNGGGGG afternoon! Wish me luck. I have errands that need to be run, but that would be suicide. Instead, I guess I can straighten up the house and try not to dislike my child too much.