Dad reports:
Yesterday Tommy ranted about “I’m always angry. I’m angry about everything. Except swimming. I’m happy when I’m swimming but all other times I’m angry.” Frankly it sounded like he was repeating words that Cathy and I had spoken.
We are currently trying to avoid yelling at Tommy at all costs. It’s hard and I fail daily. When he gets loud, we try to get softer and quieter. When he gets mean, we try to get nicer. It takes a lot out of you. It also produces some funny statements from Tommy like when I was speaking calmly and nicely about a topic he wasn’t pleased with (a scolding I think) his response was to yell “why are you yelling at me” or “why do you always yell at me”? The latter may be his true feelings about how he is handled and hopefully, if we can remain true to our current method, he will start to see things differently.