Both parents and teachers alike are concerned about children who are openly defiant of adult requests. An oppositional child can be argumentative and may deliberately annoy students, siblings, teachers, or whomever they feel like challenging. They may attempt to engage others towards some type of interpersonal confrontation in order to handle internal struggles they are experiencing.
Amy turned over the card and was sent back to start. “That’s not fair! Now I am never going to win,” yelled Amy as she grabbed cards and threw them across the room. Amy was last seen running away with tears in her eyes. Amy’s mother followed to go talk to Amy about the reality…
Several 4-year olds are playing in a daycare. All of a sudden, Stevie grabs a toy out of Johnny’s hand. Johnny screams, “That’s mine!” Stevie responds by swinging the toy and hitting Johnny in the arm. Johnny immediately bursts into tears as a daycare provider comes swooping into the fray. The daycare worker quickly figures…
The first nine weeks of school arrives and the report card comes home. Mom opens her child’s report card to find that her little Einstein is failing a class and barely passing a couple of others. When she shows the report to the boy, he says, “My teacher is horrible. She never explains anything and…
“Stop that or you will go to timeout! Do you want to go to timeout?” This phrase is often heard coming out of parents’ mouths at home and almost any other place where children can be found. Timeout has gotten into the national vocabulary of parents. In our jobs as a pediatrician and school psychologist,…