Hi ladies,
I was hoping to get some tips on how to tackle certain behaviours my 7year old step son displays. It's a bit long winded as hard to explain, so apologies for long post.
Firstly, listening in on all conversations/ Reading texts over my OHs shoulder. We a have tried telling him it's rude, etc, but it hasn't worked. It's like he's got super senses and as soon as we're talking about anything that's not to do with him he tunes in just to be super nosey.
Then he does this thing where he pretends that he hasn't listened in, waits a few seconds, then brings up the thing that we were speaking about.
Or he'll wait and say "what was it you just said about XYZ" so that it then needs to be repeated to him.
Next thing taps in to the listening in... He will pretend he's not paying attention, and then come out with something we have said as if it's his own idea.
For example: if we're discussing an activity they might do, (set the scene, children playing in the living room, OH & I stood in the hallway or other side of the room, talking in lowered tones) and I'll say "you could do 'X' crafts and use 'this that & the other' for decoration" Stepson will prickle his ears and sit up and say 'oh are we doing X? Do you know, if we do that we could use 'this that & the other for decoration".
This is just one example and I might not have explained it very well. I hope you get what I mean.
I'm concerned that he listens in and deliberately pretends not to (it is so obvious when he does it) then tries to pass things off as his own ideas. That's a bad habit to form and I can't see his friends at school appreciating him doing that to them.
And finally I suppose just the sheer nosiness of him. He's not a bad child by any means, though he is a good child with some bad habits.
He's naturally very inquisitive which is great and we try to encourage, but he is nosey beyond the point of rude, and will happily take himself off to other rooms in our house just to nose through our things and often looks for excuses to do so.
We were at a campsite in the summer and he invited himself in to a friend of a friends caravan and went through their things too. Fortunately they were very understanding, but unfortunately them being okay with it didn't really set a great example of that not being okay.
Sorry if I seem so negative. We've been trying to break these habits for years but as he's gotten older they are getting worse, and as he is coming up to the second half of year 2 we're very keen to try and get a handle on them before he goes to junior school. Also I will add that he is mostly with with his mum and we only see my step children on weekends which is probably adding to why it's taking so long to tackle.
Any advice or input greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading x
I was hoping to get some tips on how to tackle certain behaviours my 7year old step son displays. It's a bit long winded as hard to explain, so apologies for long post.
Firstly, listening in on all conversations/ Reading texts over my OHs shoulder. We a have tried telling him it's rude, etc, but it hasn't worked. It's like he's got super senses and as soon as we're talking about anything that's not to do with him he tunes in just to be super nosey.
Then he does this thing where he pretends that he hasn't listened in, waits a few seconds, then brings up the thing that we were speaking about.
Or he'll wait and say "what was it you just said about XYZ" so that it then needs to be repeated to him.
Next thing taps in to the listening in... He will pretend he's not paying attention, and then come out with something we have said as if it's his own idea.
For example: if we're discussing an activity they might do, (set the scene, children playing in the living room, OH & I stood in the hallway or other side of the room, talking in lowered tones) and I'll say "you could do 'X' crafts and use 'this that & the other' for decoration" Stepson will prickle his ears and sit up and say 'oh are we doing X? Do you know, if we do that we could use 'this that & the other for decoration".
This is just one example and I might not have explained it very well. I hope you get what I mean.
I'm concerned that he listens in and deliberately pretends not to (it is so obvious when he does it) then tries to pass things off as his own ideas. That's a bad habit to form and I can't see his friends at school appreciating him doing that to them.
And finally I suppose just the sheer nosiness of him. He's not a bad child by any means, though he is a good child with some bad habits.
He's naturally very inquisitive which is great and we try to encourage, but he is nosey beyond the point of rude, and will happily take himself off to other rooms in our house just to nose through our things and often looks for excuses to do so.
We were at a campsite in the summer and he invited himself in to a friend of a friends caravan and went through their things too. Fortunately they were very understanding, but unfortunately them being okay with it didn't really set a great example of that not being okay.
Sorry if I seem so negative. We've been trying to break these habits for years but as he's gotten older they are getting worse, and as he is coming up to the second half of year 2 we're very keen to try and get a handle on them before he goes to junior school. Also I will add that he is mostly with with his mum and we only see my step children on weekends which is probably adding to why it's taking so long to tackle.
Any advice or input greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading x